When You Care
by CranberryL2
Summary: After a little magical fluke, Russia and America have become proud parents of three, but how will they cope with the drama that comes with them? RussiAmerica, plus side pairings. WARNING! MPREG, DONT LIKE DONT READ
1. Prologue

**Hey guys -**

**I know how previous attempts at multichapters have failed me, but this time I promise to get this one done... eventually!**

**Anyway, this is the prologue, though I figure I should get a few things down first;**

**Long blocks of text written in italics = the future, when the kids are out and about. Only this prologue has this, because this covers before the kids were born.**  
><strong>Quotations written in bold = Russian, or whatever each individual kid's first language is<strong>  
><strong>Kirill = Russia and America's first child, male, currently sixteen years old<strong>  
><strong>Liliya = Russia and America's second child, female, currently fourteen years old, often called "Lily"<strong>  
><strong>Cleo = Russia and America's third child, female, currently ten years old<strong>

**Now that you understand me, please enjoy this story!**

_A young woman was walking down the streets of Kashin, looking very distraught and wondering where she could possibly get help among all these Russian people. She didn't speak a lick of Russian, and was beginning to regret going out on the town with her relatives._

_Beginning to get desperate, she reached out and grabbed a boy's shoulder, trying to figure out a way to communicate her need of directions to him when he turned around and asked, in English, "What is it?"_

_His English was heavily accented, but understandable, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Er, I'm American, and I'm visiting family here, but now I think I've lost them-"_

_He smiled warmly, telling her, "Say no more. My sister can probably help you - I'm half American myself, and we only stay here half the year, but Liliya is far better acquainted with these streets than me-"_

_As if on cue, a young, fashionable-looking girl popped seemingly out of nowhere, scaring her brother half to death as she asked in a husky, somewhat creepy voice, "**What was that, Kirill?**"_

_The tourist didn't need to understand what she said to see the resemblance between Liliya and her brother, who was a tall, curly-haired silverette with a pair of round glasses covering up his angular, lavender colored eyes and a strange tuft sticking up from the back of his head, cowering as his sister, noticeably shorter with extremely light blond hair, light blue eyes, and a layered, shoulder-length hairstyle, loomed over him._

_"**N-nothing, Liliya! It's just, this American asked for directions, and I wanted to help her, and you know this place better than me, and...**"_

_"**That's enough, Kirill.**" Turning to the stranger and toning down her aura, she smiled and asked, in slightly more heavily accented English, "Where family are you from?"_

_"I-it's 'which family', Liliya-"_

_"Shut your mouth, Kirill."_

_"I-I was staying with the Abelevs, Miss, er, Lily, was it?"_

_"Good, I know where are they. Come."_

_Kirill breathed a sigh of relief as his sister and the stranger retreated, turning back to his task. Where had Cleo gone this time?_

_"B-brother..."_

_He turned toward the noise, grinning when he saw his youngest sister crouched behind a pillar on a nearby building, presumably hiding from Liliya. Cleo had the strongest resemblance to their mother of the entire trio, with her strawberry-blond hair and large, sharp blue eyes. Her hair was pulled up into waist-length pigtails and she was clad in a sweet loli outfit, courtesy of their mother's friend Kiku._

_Kirill leaned down and said, "Come here, Cleo. Lily won't bother you now, she has work to do."_

_Cleo leaped forward and took her brother's hand, emotions taking a complete turnaround from before as she dragged Kirill along behind her, laughing and begging her to slow down._

Seventeen years ago...

Alfred stared incredulously at the pregnancy test. This wasn't possible. Not only was he a man, he was a nation. Nations couldn't have children. Men couldn't be pregnant. Duh.

And yet, there he was, staring in the face of the Little Pink Plus Sign of Doom, huddled in a stall of the men's bathroom at the nearest Walgreens to his Milwaukee home.

It had started as a joke between him and his brother, Matthew. Al hadn't been feeling well lately, feeling better at night only to toss his cookies(and hamburgers) every morning, constantly changing his mind about trivial things and snapping when there was really no need to. So today, on his trip to Wisconsin, which just so happened to be pretty darn close to Canada, Matthew had convinced Alfred to take a pregnancy test.

Al felt like he might throw up again, but that would only make cheerful, blond little Wisconsin try, once again, to make him visit the doctor, just like all the other little girls he'd visited before her on his annual tour of the states(His states were basically his harem of fifty-one little girls. He was somewhat indifferent to it, but whenever Spain came to visit...).

And so, he held it in, staggering out of the bathroom. Matthew knew something was wrong the moment he saw his brother, but little Wisconsin, try as she might, had inherited her country's inability to sense the mood and chirped, "Okies, America! Let's go up to Green Bay next!"

"Er, Wisconsin, why don't you go out to the car, okay? Al and I will meet you out there."

Wisconsin huffed and said, "I told you to call me Connie, Mattie! Gee whiz!" before marching out the door of the convenience store.

"Why do your states keep getting so mad at me...?"

"Mattie, I think the problem is that you're pretty much the only straight male nation this side of the Pacific, and - oh, God, what am I going to do? I'm pregnant!"

Matthew stared incredulously at him, much the same way Alfred had just been staring incredulously at the pregnancy test. "You're WHAT?"

"DON'T WANNA BE AN AMERICAN IDIOT!" Sang Alfred's phone. A moment later, Matthew's phone burst out into "YEAH I KNOW THAT YOU WANNA BE CANADIAN, PLEASE!"

Fishing their phones out of their pockets, they both touched the screens to open the texts they'd just received. Flashing across both screens was a message from England.

"Emergency international meeting. Get over here NOW!"

They wasted no time in racing out the door, jumping in the limo Alfred was traveling in, and telling the driver to get them to the nearest airport, to Wisconsin's obvious dismay. They'd been trained for situations like this to ignore everything and just get where they needed to be.

"B-but what about Green Bay?" Wisconsin asked, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Your entire state's fine, Connie. Keep up the good work."

"O-okay..."

She didn't dare ask any questions during the rest of the drive, quietly wondering why America and Canada(Ohh, Canada) were suddenly in a rush to get to wherever they were going. She fiddled with her "SAY CHEESE" sweater as things got awkwarder and awkwarder.

When they finally reached the airport, she dared to speak up. "M-mister America?"

He sighed and turned to her. "Yes?"

"C-can I keep the limo until you're back?"

He smiled, despite himself. "Sure, Connie. Anything you want."

One plane trip later...

"Hullo, boys," England sighed as he caught sight of the car he'd sent for Canada and America once he'd heard they'd reached the airport. He was very tired from directing everyone to their usual rooms in the hotel they generally had world meetings in, certainly not needing his little brother America to complicate everything.

Sure enough, straight away America marched up to him and cried, "What happened, Iggy? What's wrong?"

"You'll find that out later, Alfred. For now, get up to your room."

Alfred glanced around before asking, "Is Ivan here yet?"

"That can be discussed later! Just get up to your room before I smack you across the face!"

A couple hours later...

Everyone was gathered in their usual meeting room, chatting and generally hiding a certain piece of information until Arthur banged his gavel and ordered Norway and Romania up to the podium. The two countries, confused as to what they had to do with anything, walked to the front of the room without question and exchanged a few tense words with England before turning to the nations gathered there.

"Everyone," England announced, "I'm pregnant!"

There was a long silence. Then someone burst out laughing.

Arthur blushed, adding, "I'm serious!"

"Oh, REALLY?" Prussia jibed from where he was sitting, resulting in Germany facepalming.

"He's telling the truth!" America shot back at the man who was usually his friend, "I know he is because... Er..." He turned to Russia, blushing and saying, "I didn't want to tell you this way, but... I'm pregnant, too."

Ivan looked blankly at him. "America? Is... Is this some kind of joke?"

"N-no!" Italy shouted. "I'm going to have a baby too, Germany!"

Before Germany could react, Romano screamed at Spain, "YOU GOT ME PREGNANT, YOU DUMB BASTARD!"

"It had better like yaoi just as much as I do," Hungary growled at Prussia.

"It had better NOT like classical music nearly as much as you do!" Switzerland hissed at Austria.

"It's Hong Kong's," Iceland informed Norway.

"It's Korea's," China informed Hong Kong.

"'S yers," Sweden informed Denmark.

"It's WHOSE?" proclaimed Norway, Hong Kong and Denmark.

"Mon cher," France purred, glomping England.

England just sighed.

"I'm expecting, but I don't know..." Japan blushingly told Turkey and Greece.

"I'm expecting, too, but I'm pretty sure..." Greece told Turkey and Japan.

"Who in the what now?" Turkey reacted at the prospect of fathering two different children at once.

"Jett! I have something for you!" Sealand spouted across the room to Australia.

"Is it fairy floss?" Australia questioned, eyes sparkling.

"Erm... no... it's a baby..."

"Uh... that's what I said..."

"Really? I thought fairy floss was cotton candy..."

"No, nope, says who?"

"QUIET!" England yelled, getting people's attention, "and Australia, if you laid one hand on Peter, I swear I will rip your-"

"Oh, come off it, England!" Sealand retorted, "I'm over sixty already, that's plenty old enough to have some fun with Australia!"

"That's nowhere NEAR old enough and you know it! Besides, Australia's your brother!"

"As if fucking your own brother makes any difference to YOU of all people..."

"Y-you shut your mouth, you bloody convict!"

"I'm no convict, you stinking pirate!"

"If everyone doesn't shut their mouths right at this very moment, I will sic Romania on you," Norway said just loud enough for everyone to hear, successfully making everyone cower in fear as the vampire licked his fangs with obvious relish. They did not like the idea of those teeth meeting their necks. "Now, everyone, please return to your seats."

The entire assembly obeyed, glancing over their shoulders as they went. Once they were once again seated, Norway began. "Since many of you seem to be confused as to how this development came along, I'm sure you will have no problems with those of us with palpable magical ability conducting some tests on expectant couples. I'm not going to force you, but I'd advise even those who aren't getting a little surprise next year to stay, so that you know the situation and can take necessary cautions in the future."

Despite him saying "I'm not going to force you," a great deal of nations let out a shudder when he said this, indicating that almost no one was going to leave until the matter was settled.

That being said, a small number of couples that weren't receiving any exciting news were wondering if they could possibly produce a child soon, almost excited at the possibility. Canada and Ukraine were already cheerfully chattering, Lithuania already picturing what, one day, his and Belarus's baby might look like.

Belarus, on the other hand, was a different story as she watched Alfred and Ivan together enviously. Little did she know that someone was thinking about her, and that one day she might be the greatest aunt in the world to a little girl with a big sadistic side. All she was thinking at that point was how hopeless her love for Ivan really was at this point.

Ivan was already in love with his child. "We'll name him Kirill, if he's a boy, Alfred. That way he'll always remember his Russian side, even though he'll love his mama even more than me."

Alfred knitted his eyebrows, saying back, "It won't be a boy! And there' no way it'll like me better than you, mister doting daddy! She'll be a little girl, named Lily, and she'll love even the craziest people on your side of the family."

Ivan grimaced, complaining, "But I really want it to have something Russian on it's side... How about, instead of Lily, Liliya? It's pretty similar..."

Alfred smiled, just barely, before pulling his frown back on and replying, "She'll be Liliya, but I swear, she'd better not be some Russian city or whatever..."

Probably one of their few cute moments so far, and probably at the worst possible time, with Nataliya, behind them, sighing deeply in despair.

The next morning...

"Alfred!" England shouted, banging on the door of the room his brother was sharing with Canada, "You need to get up now, so that Romania and I can do some tests on you!"

Alfred groaned, rising out of bed as Matthew grunted something about turning off the dark. He pulled on a sweater from the bag e'd had pre-packed in case anything like this happened, not caring what he appeared in front of the others in, and opened the door.

Seeing Alfred's wardrobe choice, a green sweater emblazoned with yellow letters saying "SAY CHEESE" emblazoned across the front, he raised his eyebrow but said nothing. Instead, he directed America down to the meeting room.

Upon entering said room, he found only Romania, who stared pointedly at the front of Alfred's shirt. Looking down, the superpower realized that Connie must have put it in his bag as a gift. Changing the subject before Romania even had a chance to bring it up, America asked, "So, I don't believe we've been formally introduced before..."

"Serban. Serban Albusel." Romania answered quickly, adding, "I know you, of course, Mister Jones."

"Yeah, I guess everyone does. Not that they don't know you!" he provided, seeing the look on "Serban's" face.

There was an awkward silence, then Alfred decided to sit down in the front row. He was saved from the awkwardness when Hungary and Switzerland arrived, both looking like they wanted to punch someone. Hungary's expression worsened upon seeing Romania, who teasingly waved.

They both sat down a couple seats away from Alfred, Switzerland looking expectantly at Romania whilst Hungary just moped.

A couple minutes later the Italian twins arrived, significantly brightening up the day when Italy began talking to Hungary and assuring Switzerland had done a great job "fathering" himself and that he was sure their baby would be happy as well.  
>Iceland and Sweden came in next and began chatting with America, but whenever America mentioned fathers of any kind, Sweden's face darkened. Emil later informed Alfred that Berwald and Mathias weren't on the best terms, and that it was hurting Berwald's soul a little to be bearing the Dane's child.<p>

Finally, the rest, Japan, China, Greece, Sealand, and England, arrived, and they were ready to begin t investigation.

"Norway will be here soon, but apparently he had some business to cover with his boss before he was supposed to leave that never got taken care of, so he's off on a conference call or something. That doesn't hamper either of our abilities, though, so we will be testing you one at a time until we figure out what's wrong. Now, lets start with America and China, since they're the first in the alphabet..."

The two aforementioned nations stepped forward and presented their tummies(Well, America presented his tummy to England. China was slightly more shy, seeing as he barely knew Romania). The magic-possessing nations bent down and put their ears to the barely-protruding abdomens, listening close with their eyes shut.

"Romania," England said.

"Yes?"

"All I can detect is the regular protection spell we cast at the last meeting."

America raised his eyebrow. "Protection spell?"

"Norway, Romania and I have a spell we cast every once in awhile, when a new country joins the council or it's just been a while since we last renewed it, that protects the countries from harm. We took to doing it after the Great Depression, and it's worked for the most part."

"Oh..."

Romania spoke up. "I can't sense anything else either, but... wait. Something seems different on my link."

England burrowed deeper, grasping for Romania's part of the spell, nodding to himself when he found something. "Yeah, I think you just got distracted or something and switched a couple words around in the incantation, because everything that needs to be there is, it's just screwed up a little." Taking his head away from his brother's belly, he announced, "We'd like to check over everyone else, please."

The spell appeared to have the same glitch across the board, and while England and Romania tried to figure out what part of Serban's mistake had turned his safety spell into a fertility spell, the mothers cheerfully discussed their pregnancies, Elizabeta mentally noting all the yaoi material she could get out of this.

England then turned to them and said, "Looks like this is over quicker than we thought, so tonight we'll gather everyone together and take a vote as to who wants the spell to remain this way and who doesn't. I've already cast one to get rid of morning sickness, so you all should be fine for the next few months. When you've reached two weeks within your due date, I will send you to a special hospital I've arranged for us. You may go now."

Six months later...

Alfred was swearing like a swearing thing on swearing meds as the doctors wheeled him to the birthing room in his wheelchair, biting his lip and gripping the arms of the vehicle. Ivan was running along behind, wishing he hadn't let Al out on his "little" walk that had resulted in him coming back, already in labor. Not that they hadn't been expecting it - He was one week overdue.

He watched as his lover was lowered onto the bed, panting and swearing and gasping and SWEARING, clearly in pain as they settled him into the correct position. He was already crowning when they shouted "Push, Alfred, Push!"

Ivan, disregarding the doctors, raced to America's side and grabbed his hand, which was numb within seconds from Alfred's superhuman strength. Within moments, it seemed, a scream echoed through the chamber, rattling Ivan's eardrums.

Alfred, having done all he could, collapsed into Ivan's arms, already asleep and unable to watch them cut the umbilical cord of their new little boy. The child was handed to him promptly, tiny and red and somehow gigantic compared to other babies he'd seen, yet so, so fragile that he was afraid he's crush it with his clumsy hands.

He smiled down at the little bundle and whispered, "Hello, Kirill."

A few days later...

"Let me hold him, big brother!" Nataliya cried, reaching for the miniscule creature and being rejected once again. "You let Yekaterina hold him," she whined, pouting.

"That's because I'm not convinced that my older sister will drop him on his head," Ivan retorted as Yekaterina giggled. "Why not let Alfred have a turn?"

"Alfred has his whole life to hold him! I only have the next couple hours!"

There was shouting in the hallway as Ivan handed Kirill to Alfred, who in turn made a face a Nataliya.

Matthew came in, panting. When everyone looked at him, he explained, "Elizaveta just popped."

"Ooh!" the girls exclaimed when they heard their friend's name. Ivan and Alfred just gave each other a look off relief; maybe with her baby, she would finally leave them alone.

France and England had visited a couple times, having given birth to a sweet little boy a few days earlier than Alfred, but had gotten out of there the moment they were given the okay. Elizabeta had been a little too much for them to handle.

There erupted a sound from within Alfred's bundle. In the new parent's musings about Elizabeta, they'd forgotten how busy they already were.


	2. Getting It Together

**Whoop whoop! See, everyone, I'm already posting again! XD**

**Thanks so much to Rennasakura, Usagi323, hyuugahealer3, and Friendly-Shadow for reviewing!**

**So, since we're now in present day, I have some changes to my system;**  
><strong>Chunks in italics = These are now the PAST, when the nations were either pregnant or had just given birth.<strong>  
><strong>Quotations in bold = each kid's father's language, if not English<strong>  
><strong>Quotations underlined = each kid's mother's language, if not English<strong>

**That being said, enjoy!**

_The temperature in the chamber rapidly dropped as Norway and Romania worked their magic, focusing twice as hard to accommodate for the preoccupied England. Two separate magical languages weaved themselves into the air, sticking to the new parent's bodies and winding themselves tightly into their crevices._

_Within moments, America, England and the others began to shrink, their bodies changing as they gripped their babies. Even Russia felt some changes happen, just slightly, as the magic bore into his eyes and pummeled his own head._

_Once the spell was over, all the mothers were female(or at least appeared to be, in all except the case of Hungary, who was female anyway) and several fathers and babies had undergone mutations. Nothing serious, however; For example, Ivan's hair was now light blond, eyes a pale blue. Austria's purple eyes had turned dark blue, Prussia was now a brunette with brown eyes, Australia and Sealand had both grown up a bit, and Australia, Austria, and Korea had all lost their strange hair curls. Altogether, the group was quite changed._

_Even little Kirill's tuft of silver hair was now light blond. Halil's and Mila's sidelong hair curls had disappeared._

_Romania wiped his forehead, letting out a heavy breath. "God, I'm tired."_

_Romano squirmed a bit, dropping Mateo into Spain's arms. "You'd better be happy YOU don't have to play the woman, you bastard."_

_"Now, Romano," England chided, combing a hand through her nappy hair, "We all agreed to this. If you don't want to have to feign womanhood, we can always break the spell and leave it to you to figure out a way to make it make sense that two men had a baby without a surrogate mother-"_

_"I'll go with the spell, thanks."_

_"Now tell us about what this spell does exactly," Sweden spoke up, speech surprisingly fluid now that she'd changed genders. Denmark silently thanked God that he might finally understand his lover... and that she was also now shorter than him._

_"The basic gist is," Norway began, "When you're in the vicinity of someone under the little contract you signed, you'll change to your basic human form; this. For the sake of the revelation, the children will sign a contract when they're in their freshman year that will change their spell - what happens is that the children of those who signed the original contract will count as having signed the contract. Once they sign the second contract, they'll still change into a human around their siblings and cousins and things, but around their parents and everyone else they'll be as they truly are. As for aging, the contract took care of it for you - you'll appear to age as your kids get older, and since they age normally for their first fifteen years, none will be the wiser."_

_Everyone stared at him for a minute. Then, Switzerland had the nerve to ask what no one else could; "WHAT?"_

_"The simplified version is; don't sweat it," Romania told them, winking, "Now everyone get out of this stuffy old room."_

Liliya sighed, trying as hard as she could to savor her last moments in Wisconsin before her parents shipped her off to some boarding school in EFFING AUSTRALIA.

She knew nothing about Australia, though she did have one Australian uncle. She'd spent her entire life either in Milwaukee or Kashin, Kashin the first half of the year and Milwaukee the second. It was a wonder she had learned anything in school at all, considering her constant switching, yet somehow she'd passed the World W Academy entrance exam despite extreme efforts to fail it.

She didn't want to go to the same school as her big brother, regardless of whether her parents had both gone there or not. She wasn't even supposed to know it was in Australia, but Kirill had let slip once or twice, telling her, "It might not be chilly yet here, but down there it's going to be colder."

Not that temperatures ever bothered either of them, or even their little sister, Cleo. Both hometowns were reasonably cold during winter, and while spending the second half of winter in Kashin was slightly more brutal than the first half in Milwaukee, they were both frequently below freezing.

She paused on her little trail in the woods. She'd gotten off her train of thought; not wanting to go to school with Kirill.

It wasn't that she didn't like her older brother, he was really quite the nice guy. It's just, when she was around him, she tended to go somewhat sadistic.

Ever since the age of two, Liliya had loved to one-up Kirill. She always had to make the biggest sand castle, the prettiest drawing, the fastest running time. It was only after a certain event with her Auntie Nataliya that things had changed a bit. She began taking pleasure in seeing Kirill cry, bleed, flinch due to her actions. And when she got started on her spree, her sadism spread to people other than her brother. Until she'd started attending different schools than he in sixth grade, no one had wanted to be friends with her.

So now that she had friends to miss, it would be all the harder to live without them in a brand-new school where she didn't know anyone.

_That's not true, _she told herself, _I know Halil, Ran, and Masaru. I know Jaques, Douglas, Teddy, and Alex. And of course I know Kirill._

Her friends couldn't even write her letters without the address, and were they even allowed to use email over there? There was no way to tell. She was guessing on everything.

Maybe she should call Uncle Jett. Or Auntie Petunia. They'd know about Australia, seeing as they live there. Why had she never bothered asking them about it before?

Liliya looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, and if she didn't get home before dark her mom would blow a gasket. She could already hear a mosquito buzzing around her head.

She picked up her pace, practically running through the woods. They were the perfect place to waste time, but they could be the worst possible area to be if she was in a hurry, seeming to make two more twists in the road for every one there'd been before.

Finally she was spat onto the sidewalk, barely any transition between deep woods and suburban housing; that was Shorewood for you. She hurriedly looked both ways, crossed the street, and headed down the block for her house.

Without a doubt, her family lived on the rich side of the neighborhood, almost every house except theirs within view of Lake Michigan, with fine decorations on the outside of every large home.

Arriving at her lovely brick abode, she pushed the gate open and strode into the garden, cutting it very close to full darkness as she entered.

Slamming the door shut(It wouldn't stay closed unless it was pushed very firmly. They'd been trying to fix it for ages, but it just wouldn't stay fixed), she called, "I'm hoooome!"

"Is that Lily?" Allison Jones called from the living room, "Wow, honey, you're only three hours late for dinner!"

Liliya scowled at her mother, who was curled up with a glass of cold milk and a magazine on the couch, dressed simply in an oversized T-shirt and plaid pajama pants. Allison jokingly scowled back, then chirped, "Dinner was mashers and chicken. Your portion's on the counter."

Lily stared for a second, then hurriedly said, "Kirill's here?" The meal her mother had described was Kirill's favorite.

"Well, yeah! You guys have to go to school in a couple days, you know. He couldn't hide out in Alaska forever."

Liliya's brother had not been home as often as he might have in the last couple years, since entering the mysterious Australian school they were boarding their flight to tomorrow. He'd been spending lots of time doing some gigantic project up in Alaska, which their parents both approved of, Ivan calling it "the perfect blend of both his cultures".

Nonetheless, despite her misgivings about going to school with him, she was very excited to hear Kirill's distinctive footfalls on the stairs. The moment he came around the corner, she raced up to him and -

slugged him in the stomach.

"**Why haven't you been answering my messages?**" she demanded, rage boiling in her eyes as both Allison and Kirill cried out in astonishment, speech lapsing into Russian as it always did when she was angry.

Kirill doubled over, coughing, gripping his round glasses as they threatened to slide off his nose. "G-glad... to see... you, too, Lily."

"Kirill! Give her a piece of your mind!" their mom called, tossing aside her magazine and stomping into the foyer, clearly dismayed.

"No need to bother, seeing as you always do it for me," Kirill replied, managing to straighten up.

Allie grunted, a smile curling onto her face despite herself. "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say. Anyway, I thought you were going to bed?"

"I was brushing my teeth when I heard Lily come in, so I figured I'd say hi. Hi, Lily." Dodging beneath her ensuing assault, he tried not to let his fear show on his face. God, she got scarier every time she saw him. "That being said, I'm gonna go back up. Ni-night."

"Nighty-night, hon! Get plenty of sleep, we're getting up early tomorrow!"

One thing Lily had neglected to mention thus far; her mother totally favored Kirill over her. Since he'd been born year of the dragon, she even called him Dragon-Boy. Something about Dragons bringing their mothers fortune or something.

As for Liliya, it seemed to her that Allison considered her lower than dirt(quite an exaggeration, but that's what you get from teenage minds). Even Cleo got more attention from their mother than her. This had all recently culminated in Lily resenting Allison for her neglectful behaviors, and might explain her specific proficiency in Russian and favoritism of her father.

So, when she saw her mom fawning over Kirill anew, it hurt her a little inside.

Oh, well. At least Allison would only be at school with her for one day.

**The next morning**

"**Lily! Lily, please get up. We really don't need to go through this again, do we?**" Ivan jokingly asked, responding to his daughter's blatant refusal to get out of bed.

"**I'm up! Just... leave the room.**"

"**You're not up, silly, you're just trying to get rid of me.**"

"**... If you want me to get out of bed, you'll have to force me.**"

Ivan groaned comically, turning himself around to sit on Liliya's legs. A shout of protest sounded from the other end of the bed.

"**Okay! I'm up, I'm up! Now get off!**"

"Promise you'll stay awake? _And speak English?"_

Propping herself up on her elbows, she said, "Yes... what is _that_?"

Standing up, Ivan replied, "It's just my normal work uniform."

"But why are you having to wear that coat to Australia? I do not care what Kirill has said, you'll melt!"

"Lily. Grammar."

"What was this?"

"... Never mind. I'm wearing my coat for special reasons that you'll understand later. Your mother is also wearing her uniform... Though I do agree, I might just melt something major in this..." he added absentmindedly before turning to the door. "We have to leave at seven, so hurry up if you're going to shower, okay? See you downstairs."

She sighed, not wanting to get out of bed, then heaved herself up to get to the bathroom. After washing her hair, brushing her teeth, and generally disregarding the mop her head had turned into without brushing out her locks, she dressed herself, placing her knitted cap on her head(a present from Auntie Nataliya. It had a big plus-sign-shaped design on the front) and wrapping her small, glittery scarf around her neck(another gift from Auntie Nataliya. It had become a tradition to give their nieces and nephews scarves on their twelfth birthdays on her father's side of the family; Kirill had received one from Yekaterina, her cousin Teddy had received one from her father, and her other cousin Misha would soon get one from Nataliya).

Downstairs, Kirill and Cleo were breakfasting on pancakes and sausage, and with them at the table was...

"Uncle Matthew! Auntie Yekaterina! Where is Teddy?"

"Oh, he's in the general area. I think your mom wanted to show him something. Misha, Anya and Irina will be here, too, but they've wandered off. And don't be afraid of the pancakes; I made them, so there's nothing potentially harmful."

"Misha, Anya and Irina are staying here with Cleo while we head to school," Kirill informed her, "Matthew, Yekaterina, and Teddy will be flying with us. Remember? Teddy's in your grade!"

Liliya rolled her eyes. "I remember, Kirill. We are almost the same age!"

"Hey, Lil!" a laid-back voice called from behind her. Turning around, she saw her cousin struggle into view, dragging all three of his sisters along with him. "Looking for me?"

All four of the children had blond hair(as it was now, anyway) and blue eyes(Also, as it was now). Misha, however, the quietest of all of them, was the only one who wore glasses. The preteen was already as pretty as her mother, with long braids wrapped around her head, like how Yekaterina had worn hers when she was young. Anya was a shy individual, though she most certainly could speak her mind when she needed to, with chin-length locks held back in a headband. Irina, the little thing, had somewhere along the line picked up the ability to speak enough for her entire family(loudly enough too), with free-hanging, chest-length hair. Teddy was the oldest, with a free-spirited, albeit quiet, personality that was just impossible not to get along with. His hairstyle was similar to Uncle Ivan's.

Liliya smiled lightly, saying, "I do not recall permission for you to call me that. In fact, I believe I told you never to."

"Lazy Lil," Teddy teased, "Still haven't memorized your English vocab list for the summer? Maybe you can spend the next twenty or so hours doing so on the plane."

"You will regret-"

"Lily! Eat your breakfast now or forever hold your peace, because we're leaving in ten minutes!"

She sent Teddy a scalding glare, succumbing to her aunt's command and growling, "_You..."_

**One plane ride later...**

Kirill practically tumbled off their family's private jet, gasping for air and hugging the flight attendant at the door, proclaiming "LAND! GOD, I MISSED YOU!"

"**Kirill, stop making a spectacle,**" Liliya muttered, not even able to make an effort with English due to her tiredness. It had been a looong flight.

"Bet he doesn't make this much of a fuss when _you're _not on the plane with him," Teddy supplied, "You really didn't have to snap at that lady, you know."

"She got my order wrong and I was tired. Bug off."

Teddy pretended to be shocked. "Look, everyone! Lil just got out a perfect sentence in English! Strike up the band! Bring out the hoes!"

Kirill stood up for his little sister. "You're obviously not in the best mood yourself, Teddy. Lily didn't deserve that."

Teddy let a breath escape him. "Yeah, I'm tired too. Sorry about that, Lil."

"**Idiot."**

"Huh?"

"**Be nice, Lily.**"

"Would you please stop speaking in Russian?"

"Sorry. Anyway, where'd our parents go?"

"Calling the kids," Liliya told him, before Teddy got a chance to say anything. She was obviously still holding a grudge.

"Yoo-hoo!"

Speak of the devil.

Allison was bouncing in their general direction, with Yekaterina, Matthew and Ivan following close behind. Arriving at their sides, she said, "Misha says everything's okay, so let's go to your school! We'll drop you guys off, then find a hotel. We'll have to stay overnight if we want to go to your special initiation tomorrow."

"Ahh, special initiation," Kirill sighed, exchanging a look with his mother that neither of the others could comprehend. Turning to them, he informed them cryptically, "You're in for the surprise of your life, I'll tell you that much."

**In the car**

"Almost to school, kids," Ivan yawned, keeping his eye on the road. "Should see it any time now."

"What is there to see?" Teddy questioned. "All I'm seeing is trees. LOTS and LOTS of trees."

"Now, Teddy, we're in Australia! Those aren't trees, they're bush."

"Mmhmm..."

The car was very quiet as they drove on. Everyone was so jetlagged by this point that Ivan had to rely on his wife just to keep him awake while driving. Kirill was snoring softly in the back, alongside his drifting sister, whose mind couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to go to sleep or stay awake.

By the time they reached the school, all three children were asleep.

"Welcome to World W Academy," Matthew breathed as he waved to the gatekeeper to let them in.


	3. Surprise of Your Life

**HAIIIIII GAIZZZZZZZZZ**

**Okay... Only one review since my last update. That I can deal with. Especially since he/she/it gave me some very good advice in the process(Thanks, Rennasakura).**

**So, since I've explained all my other thingamajigs, here's an explanation of the people who appear in this chapter;**

**Qing-Nian and Olafur - Iceland and Hong Kong's sons, twins, juniors - Qing-Nian is blind, Olafur is allergic to sunlight**  
><strong>Mila and Fritzi - Italy and Germany's daughters, one junior and one freshman<strong>  
><strong>Teddy - Ukraine and Canada's son, freshman<strong>  
><strong>Jett and Petunia - Australia and Sealand, human form<strong>  
><strong>Ilka and Wolfie - Hungary and Prussia's kids, one junior and one freshman<strong>  
><strong>Bjorn and Dyre - Sweden and Denmark's sons, one junior and one freshman<strong>  
><strong>Mateo, Russo, and Trey - Romano and Spain's sons, one junior, one sophomore, one freshman<strong>  
><strong>Aran - Vietnam and Thailand's son, freshman<strong>  
><strong>Filomena - Poland's son, freshman<strong>  
><strong>JackJacques - France and England's son, junior**  
><strong>Alex - Sealand and Australia's son, freshman<strong>  
><strong>Helen and Kiku - Greece and Japan, human form<strong>  
><strong>Halil, Ran, and Masaru - Turkey, Greece and Japan's kids, two juniors, one freshman<strong>  
><strong>Arwen - England, human form<strong>

**Hope you enjoy~**

_At the gate, waiting as they approached, were five students, all from the initial batch of children born after the changing of the spell and thus all juniors like Kirill. Beforehand, Kirill had asked his friends to help him, his sister, and his cousin to their dorms, since they were bound to be exhausted. The ones who hadn't just arrived today had agreed to help them out._

_Once the car stopped, Kirill's friends discovered that his burdensome relatives weren't the only ones who were sound asleep - even Kirill himself had passed out along the way. His parents and aunt and uncle seemed eager to get to their hotel as well, not likely to be of any help._

_"Well, I'M not carrying any of them, thanks," Qing-Nian said right off the bat, once he'd been informed of the current situation, "I'd be just as likely to get them hurt as they would themselves in this condition. Besides, I'm too small."_

_As if in response, his much taller twin bent down and effortlessly picked up Liliya from the back seat, quietly saying to the adults, "Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Braginsky, Mr. and Mrs. Williams." Straightening up, he asked, "Who's she dorming with again, Ilka?"_

_The aforementioned tossed her long, ponytailed hair over one shoulder, fishing her list out of one pocket and squinting at it in the almost-nonexistent light. "Fritzi, I believe. Mila's little sister. They seem to be the only girls in their grade. Though, with Wolfie there, it's practically three. Plus, I heard Feliks's kid is in their grade..." She continued rambling, oblivious to the fact that no one was listening._

_Olafur nodded quietly and started walking up the driveway, grunting to let his brother know he was leaving. Qing-Nian perked up, calling, "You'd better not be going already! God dammit, make more noise when you move! Olafur!"_

_Mateo chuckled, patting the black-haired bedhead's shoulder. "Don't follow him yet, Qing-Nian. We can still use your help with the bags."_

_"G-guys?" Kirill mumbled, having woken and staggered out of the car, "Hey... Where's Lily? I can carry her myself, I'm strong..."_

_"Ol beat you to it, man," Bjorn informed him, running a hand through his spiky blond hair, trying to get it to stick up straighter, "He's already taking her up to the dorms. I think he wants to get this over with and go out for a walk. It's pretty rare that he's got enough energy to go outside without his umbrella when it's actually possible."_

_Kirill started, staring at Bjorn. "Oh, man, I've gotta find him! If she wakes up - err, well, let's just say you don't even know what she's capable of-"_

_Ilka snorted, "Oh, please! As if he doesn't already know how to deal with spoiled younger siblings."_

_Qing-Nian raised an eyebrow, turning his head in Ilka's general direction but not opening his eyes, "I HOPE you're talking about the triplets right now."_

_"Sure, why not. Anyway, who else is in there?"_

_"Teddy... he's asleep. I don't think he's gonna wake up anytime soon, since last time I checked he was snoring like the average lion."_

_"I'll get him," volunteered the short, stocky yet strong Mateo. The others helped him maneuver Teddy into a piggyback position on Mateo's back, grabbing their bags before Kirill's parents hurriedly said goodbye and roared off in their automobile. The five who were currently awake set their minds to carrying their large loads up the steep hill to the castle they called their school, Qing-Nian already raising a fuss._

_Once they approached the school, the lights helped them see each other clearly(Except for Qing-Nian, who couldn't see either way). They weren't used to seeing each other in their human forms, but that would soon not be a problem. Kirill's blond hair and missing cowlick attracted as much attention as Ilka appearing to be a brunette, or Mateo lacking a hair curl sprouting from the top of his head. Though Qing-Nian and Bjorn had no such distinguishing characteristics, they still looked a bit younger than they normally did in city form._

_Olafur, waiting by the door to the dorm building, sighted them before they sighted him, waving halfheartedly, saying to them when they were in earshot, "Kirill, have you ever noticed how big your sister's schnozz is? She's pretty cute nevertheless, but God... You look weird."_

_Kirill heaved a tired sigh, wanting nothing more than to ask Olafur to shut his mouth(Olafur talked a lot more around his friends than with people he didn't know well, like Kirill's parents a couple minutes earlier. Sometimes his mouth could kind of run away with him.), but he figured that wouldn't be a good way to start the year. Instead, he answered, "You don't look the same as normal either, Ol. It sure is strange not to see you bundled up like it's the middle of some Icelandic winter."_

_"Point taken."_

_Kirill then turned to Bjorn and asked, "We still roomed together? I swear I could sleep for a year."_

_Bjorn grinned and replied, "You know it, man. We're on floor two, room eight."_

_"Er, can we get Teddy to his room first? I'm kind of dying here," Mateo interceded, grimacing._

_The Italian had been so quiet on the way up that his friends had almost forgotten he was carrying the biggest load of all. Ilka profoundly apologized, pulling out her list and holding it up to the light._

_"Mm, he's first floor, room four... God, he'd roomed with my little weirdo of a brother," Ilka groaned, promptly explaining, "Wolfie's almost as obsessed with yaoi as my mom is." The rest of the group displayed a range of reactions, from Kirill's understated knitting of his eyebrows to Bjorn's comical laugh to Qing-Nian's regular ornery frown._

_Entering the dorms, they encountered a couple of their classmates hanging around, waving when they made eye contact with everyone. Wolfgang was not in his and Teddy's room, so they dropped the still-asleep freshman on the bed with all of his belongings before exiting back into the hall._

_Now that they weren't in the presence of anyone who hadn't signed the second contract, their bodies began changing slightly; Kirill was even taller, with silver, wavy hair and a palpable tuft sticking up from the back of his head, eyes going from blue to lavender behind his glasses. He suddenly shivered, wrapping his long, Russia-like scarf more tightly around his neck as if he'd suddenly caught a chill. A shudder passed through Bjorn, Qing-Nian and Olafur's bodies as well, as the three's faces matured a bit, the half-Asian's appearances suddenly slightly older and the Swede's even more so. Ilka's hair quickly faded from light brown to pure white, still hanging to her waist though she seemed to have grown three inches, her eyes still green. Finally, Mateo didn't change much besides his somewhat older bearing and the large hair curl springing up from his mass of Spain-resemblant hair._

_Before his friends could involve him in another lengthy conversation, Kirill said a hasty goodbye, dragging Bjorn along behind him in the general direction of their dorm room, the Swede putting up little resistance, as he was pretty tired himself. Rubbing his eyes, he asked huskily, "You don't want some already, do you?"_

_Kirill blushed heavily, tugging at his scarf without saying anything for a minute. Then he muttered to his secret boyfriend, "P-please just kiss me already..."_

Liliya groaned, turning over in bed as the clock buzzed away obnoxiously on the bedside table. She couldn't remember getting into bed, so Kirill must have carried her up. At least the nice thing about having an overprotective(despite the fact that he was obviously aware of her ability to protect herself) brother was that she didn't have to worry about having some creeper carry her to her room.

Lifting her head with a great effort(She could only hope that her roommate was assertive enough to force her out of bed most days), she punched the off button on the alarm clock, spotting a note on the nightstand. Picking it up, she realized it was from her currently missing companion.

Hi Liliya,

Since you're still not awake, I figure I'll just leave this note - Is that okay? Since I don't know you that well and all... Anyway! I'm out for a jog, so we can't meet each other quite yet. I'll be back in a while to take a shower, if you want to wait up, but otherwise, the dining room is next door. I think we'll get along great!

-Fritzi Beilshmidt-Vargas

P.S. Who was that guy who brought you in? I met your brother already, but it wasn't him. You were asleep, so if you don't know, that's fine.

The note wandered every which a way, making Liliya wonder if this Fritzi girl was really all there or if she could possibly get along with someone this spacey. At the end, she almost felt herself get angry at Kirill for letting someone she didn't even know bring her - but wait, it might just have been Teddy or someone she actually knew. She couldn't get mad at him when she didn't even know.

Having read about breakfast made her realize that she hadn't had a proper dinner the night before, her tummy rumbling with discontent. Since she usually showered at night, she didn't want to hop in just yet, so instead she dressed herself in her favorite black t-shirt and red-and-black plaid skirt, plus her scarf and knitted hat and popped out into the hall.

Almost immediately, she heard someone call someone else, turning her head to see a slender young man racing towards her. Ducking out of his way before he could crash into her, she watched as he skidded to a stop several feet before reaching her. Panting, he greeted her, "Hey! I'm Aran."

The boy was obviously Asian, with messy, somewhat spiky hair that went everywhere at once and wide brown eyes. His accent was terrible and almost unintelligible, but Liliya managed to make out what he was saying despite her own lacking ability in her mother's language.

"My name is Liliya. You may call me Lily. What is it you want?"

"Um. I'm really hungry."

She looked blankly at him.

"And I don't know where to find my breakfast."

"You could not have asked your roommate?"

"He... He kinda scares me. He's, like, really, really girly."

"And I am not all the more girly?"

"Er... You're a girl. You're supposed to be..."

Lily sighed, not seeing any way out of helping the guy out. "I was told it is next door. You may follow me."

"Y-you eat breakfast? I mean... Where are you from?"

"I am half Russian, half American."

"Oh... Should've known your accent was off. I'm half and half, too, but I always heard American girls skipped breakfast all the time. I'm part Thai, part Vietnamese."

He stopped talking, as if expecting Liliya to say something, but he got no reply as she walked ahead of him. He silently gave up on picking this girl up, wondering if there was anyone else he could flirt with.

The air outside was that of an early spring day, cool but with a promise of warming up soon. Liliya, still giving Aran the silent treatment, loped toward the source of the warm smell of food, a large(but not as large as the dorms) building to the right of their new home.

As they walked, Liliya heard someone shout her name, and stopped to see, for the second time that morning, someone running toward her. This time, it was a medium-tall girl with chest-length, light cinnamon-colored hair streaming out behind her. Her eyes were a warm brown and she was clad in a blue-and-white exercise outfit. Liliya had no idea who the girl was, but through the spaced-out expression on her face was able to surmise that this was her new roommate, Fritzi.

Unable to dodge out of the way thanks to Aran, Liliya found herself being tackle-hugged by the energetic brunette and, being much shorter and less muscular, almost smothered by her affectionate classmate. While she hugged her, Fritzi blathered;

"Oh, Liliya, how good to finally meet you at last! I was so nervous all summer because I thought you might end up all mean and scary, but you don't seem like that at all! You're so cute! I think we'll be great friends, don't you? Can I call you Lily? Who's this guy? Is he the one who carried you last night? Oh, wait, no he's not. You're so CUTE!"

Seeing as Liliya wasn't fluent in Italian, the only things in the entire rant that she could understand were her own name and her nickname. However, she found that Fritzi's grip on her was weakening, and took the opportunity to slip out of her embrace. Dusting herself off, she considered; While Fritzi would obviously not be of any help getting her up in the morning, she seemed harmless enough, possibly even the perfect friend for Lily, being very similar to another old friend of hers back in America who'd also gone on long rants and hadn't minded her horrible English at all.

"Fritzi?" Liliya interrupted, "I cannot understand a word you are saying, but you may call me Lily if you want to."

There was a pause, then Fritzi said, in perfect English, "Oh, sorry! I didn't even realize I was speaking Italian! I do that sometimes, but you don't seem to mind. Sorry for hugging you like that, you don't know me and I probably smell like... uh, ew. Anyway! I need to take my shower, so I'll see you later!"

And as quickly as she had come, Fritzi disappeared into the dorms, standing aside for another girl to exit before skipping inside. Liliya watched her go before, without consulting Aran, turning around to continue on her way to the dining hall, the awestruck Asian trailing behind.

_After breakfast..._

Since she and Aran had been some of the first people there, Liliya had little opportunity to socialize. She decided to just hang around until Kirill arrived and ask him what to do, where to go to get her uniform and schedule and everything. Luckily, it wasn't that long a wait until he walked in with another junior, a tall(though not nearly as tall as her brother), blonde, spiky-haired and blue-eyed young man. Kirill was walking slowly and oddly, holding his legs apart while his friend held on to his arm.

Seeing his sister, the gigantic "blonde" forced himself upright, taking his arm from his companion and failingly trying to act casual. "Hey, Lily! What're you doing up this early?"

"Same as you will. Eating. Who is this?"

The other boy grinned mischievously and introduced himself. "Name's Dyre! I'm a total prick!"

"Bjorn," Kirill warned, though something didn't seem genuine in his tone, as if he really did find his friend's trick funny, "I'm sure your little brother isn't THAT bad."

"Bjorn. A pleasure." Liliya said, shaking hands with him, though she could already tell he was never going to be someone she wanted to hang out with. Facing Kirill, she asked, "What am I supposed to do? I have not received any instructions."

"Wait for Mom and Dad at the gate, they'll know what to do. Also, listen for any announcements about the Special Class - That's you. Just a minute, Bjorn, I'm hungry too, I'm just being a good brother, unlike SOMEONE I know..."

"That is enough, Kirill, thank you," Liliya murmured, fully realizing that Kirill wasn't listening, and heading past him out the door.

Reentering the cold outdoor air, she briefly huddled in the warmth of the doorway before trotting down the hill, glancing around to see all the unfamiliar faces, furtively scanning for anyone she knew. The student population was larger than she'd realized, though Kirill had told her that the Special Class was a far smaller percentage of the school population.

What was the Special Class, anyway? There hadn't been much explanation as to why Liliya and her brother were any different from the rest of the students, and she wasn't seeing much to separate herself from the others, besides that she wasn't wearing a uniform yet. Why WERE there so many different uniforms in this one school? The one Kirill had been wearing wasn't similar at all to what Bjorn wore.

Letting her mind stew in these matters, she reached the bottom of the wooded hill without much conflict, seeing someone else already waiting there. Looking closer, Liliya recognized the person as the girl Fritzi had passed earlier. Only, now that Liliya actually paid attention, she wasn't altogether sure the person was female.

Sure, the person's ears were pierced, but one had three holes in it, the other one, and they held nothing more intricate than plain metal studs. Their hair was short, but Liliya couldn't tell if it was in a girl's pixie cut or just a normal boy's haircut. Their clothes were very feminine, skinny jeans with a slender tee, but she it was impossible to decipher if the person was emo or girly, the decision made harder when she wondered if the person's bright red hair was genuine or dyed.

However, when the person noticed her and smiled, saying, "Hey, my name's Filomena. You can call me Filo," she decided it was definitely a guy. With an accent similar to hers, Filo had introduced himself casually and smoothly, as if they weren't just awkwardly waiting for their parents to arrive and they actually cared what the other had to say.

To make it short, Filo was pretty damn cool.

"I'm Liliya," she responded, as if in a trance, "B-but everyone calls me Lily."

"Great skirt, Lily. Where'd you get it? It's a nice color scheme, and the tights you're wearing to top it all off - just fabulous. Like the hat, too."

Oh, great. He was gay. Well, at least he was cool.

"The skirt is American, I found it in this tiny little place - Hey!"

A car was driving up, and though it wasn't the one her parents had rented, she recognized it immediately as her uncle Jett's gates opened for them, Jett waving as he rolled to a stop right next to where Liliya and her new friend were standing. Petunia, as small and energetic as ever, hopped out before the car had fully stopped in order to greet her niece cheerfully.

"Hello, Lily!" Petunia sang in her British accent, "So nice to see you again, dear. Have your parents arrived yet?"

"No - Hi, Jett!"

"Hello, kiddie!" her youngest uncle called, leaning out the window of his vehicle, "Be right back, gotta go park. You seen Douglas or Alex yet?"

"No! Someone else wants to get in, Jett, you must move!"

"Whoops," Jett answered, seeing the new arrival's car behind him, "You want to walk up, Petunia?"

"Hell no! See you, honey," Petunia laughed, getting back in, "Hope you have a great year, and that your parents come in soon!"

While Liliya waved goodbye to her aunt and uncle, another car arrived, honking its horn to indicate that it was waiting for those in front to move. A couple other students had headed down the hill, but now that they saw where the cars were going, they decided to follow those instead.

Liliya looked to Filo. "What should we do?"

"A teacher told me to wait here. I figure this is the place to be."

"Lily!"

Turning her head, Liliya saw Fritzi racing down the hill towards them, a small boy in tow. Liliya waved in response, and when they'd reached them, she gestured to the redhead and informed the newcomers, "Fritzi, this is Filo. Filo, this is Fritzi."

Filo saluted gaily, asking, "How do you do?"

Fritzi smiled at him, indicating the small boy(Gosh, he was even smaller than me! was Liliya's first thought) and introducing him as "Cousin Wolfie".

Wolfie was, as you may have guessed, tiny. He had short, brown hair and light brown eyes, with square glasses. He smiled timidly, inclining his head and greeting them with a soft hello. Liliya felt her heart melt a bit, like whenever her little sister did something sweet for her without being asked. She felt a strange desire to protect this kid.

"Wolfie's father is my dad's brother! His full name is Wolfgang Beilschmidt-Hedervary, but his name is a bit too big for him, doncha think? Auntie Elizabeta always thought so, but - Hey, speak of the devil, Wolfie, it's your mom!"

"Yoo-hoo!" yelled the woman Fritzi had called Wolfie's mom, running down the hill, "Wolfie, you haven't eaten enough breakfast! Get back up here and have some sausage - GILBERT, GET BACK INSIDE! DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW YOU'VE BEEN SLACKING ON YOUR PREPARATIONS!"

"You can't boss me!" cackled a brown-haired man that looked very similar to Wolfie, who had just exited one of the nearby buildings.

"I'M YOUR FRIGGING WIFE, OF COURSE I CAN BOSS YOU! Now, come back up the hill Wolfie, how do you ever expect to grow if you don't eat something?"

Wolfie sighed resignedly, whispering to the other three freshmen, "Mom and Dad just signed on as teachers here. It's going to be a long year."

"Oh, Wolfie, that's horrible!" Fritzi responded, checking to make sure her aunt hadn't heard, "And even if it isn't, it sure is going to be loud."

Having reached her son, Elizabeta panted, smiling, "Hello, there! Are you all freshmen? I'm the new Art teacher! Don't mind Gilbert, he's just some idiotic German..." She trailed off, grumbling, then cleared her throat and continued doting on her little boy. "Wolfie, come on, you can't possibly be full yet! Just look at you, you scrawny little thing! You're skin and bones!"

She continued blathering, dragging poor Wolfie back up the hill with her and not bothering to say goodbye to the three children.

Liliya raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Your family is almost as insane as mine."

Filomena chuckled. "You know you have a weird family when your mom actually PERSUADES her kid to dress like a girl, like mine does. Polish people can be awfully strange."

Fritzi looked at Filo blankly. "Why would it be strange for a woman to convince her daughter to wear dresses?"

There was an awkward pause. Then, so as not to humiliate Fritzi, Filo told her, "W-well, I just figure parents should let their children wear what they want. You know?"

Fritzi's face brightened considerably. "Oh, yeah! Like my dad, he's so liberal, he probably wouldn't mind if I dressed like some kind of gang member! Though he doesn't like it when Mila shows off too much skin, I guess."

"Filomena!" shouted a voice, startling the trio. They'd grown used to cars passing them periodically, so they had barely noticed the first time Filo's name was called, and saw that the woman in the most recent car was looking a little impatient. However, when they noticed her, she grinned, took off her sunglasses, and said in an accent identical to Filo's, "Would you like me to drive you up the hill, baby? I'm, like, so bored from driving here all alone."

Filo gave the blonde a grin identical to his mother's, showing his friends just how much they looked alike(and probably not helping with Fritzi's impression of him being a girl) and replying, "Sure, Mom. Let me get in."

He waved to Fritzi and Liliya and boarded, not seeming too worried when his mother rocketed off like she was on the freeway. The next car belonged to Liliya's own parents as well as Teddy's, a welcome sight already. Like Filo, she rode up with her parents.

Matthew and Katyusha went off in search of Teddy while Liliya gave Ivan and Allison hugs. Backing off, Allison asked, "So, made any friends yet?"

"Yes. That girl was one, and another named Filomena. Possibly Wolfie, too."

Ivan smiled and patted her head. "That's excellent, sunflower. Speaking of which, the three of us are expected somewhere. Do you remember the way, Allison?"

Allison crossed her arms, and Liliya realized for the first time that her parents were, once again, in their work uniforms - and her mother didn't seem to be wearing a bra. She wanted to say something, but figured Ivan must have already, explaining why she seemed so self-conscious about it.

"Of course I don't remember, Vanya. It's been two years. We need to find Iggy."

"Or me," interrupted a voice. Turning around, they saw a slender, wavy-haired blonde boy waggle his fingers at them, then, realizing how feminine the gesture made him look, he swiftly put down his hand and bowed.

"Hey, Jack," Liliya greeted her cousin, looking into his green eyes, "Do you know where we are expected?"

"Of course I do," the young Englishman scoffed, "It's just this way. On the right - there's a big sign, you can't miss it. Off you go."

Nodding to her relative, Liliya led her parents toward the building labeled with the sign "SPECIAL CLASS AND PARENTS COME HERE". As they approached, a message blared from the speaker above the door; "All students and parents of the special class, freshman division, please report to the meeting place set aside for you. Ask the nearest upperclassman if you don't know where it is."

They entered, coming across a room full of trios(and one duo) of children and their parents, all parents wearing strange outfits and none of the women appearing to be wearing proper undergarments. Spotting Filo and Wolfie, Liliya tried to approach them, but was held back by her father's hand. Looking up at him, she saw her parents both scan the room for someone. Then, a smile broke on Allison's face as she waved to someone. "Hi, Petunia, Jett," she yelled.

Seeing her aunt and uncle had found Alex, one of her cousins that was in her grade, Liliya waved to them as well. Looking around, she saw only a small amount of families. Over to one corner was a boy that looked a lot like Kirill's friend that she'd met earlier, Bjorn, that hovered close to his parents, an eerie-looking woman and a laid-back man. There was a snippy-looking boy with brown hair pouting as his parents, both also brown haired, argued(It appeared to be an incredibly one-sided argument, the woman throwing insults at the man while he responded with poorly-timed hugs). She caught sight of Aran with two quiet Asians, looking away quickly when he waved at her, hoping he wouldn't try to talk to her again. Teddy had obviously met up with his parents at one point, because Yekaterina was chattering away in his ear, fixing his hair, fussing over his choice in clothes, the sound of her breasts audible over the entire crowd.

_I sure would hate to have breasts that big, _Liliya thought to herself while her parents discussed something.

There was a clatter of noise as Fritzi bounded in, rushing towards the brunette family Liliya had noted before and hugging the boy. The woman began arguing with Fritzi's mother instead of with her husband, Fritzi's father smacking his forehead with his palm.

At long last, another trio of people came in, consisting of Liliya's mother's friend, Kiku, and one of her lovers(Kiku wasn't afraid to admit that she was part of a threesome), Helen, along with Kiku and Sadiq's son(Sadiq being the third point of their triangle), Masaru. Glancing around, Kiku saw them and approached, smiling quietly at Liliya and being strangle-hugged by Allison. Helen looked into Allison's eyes and said seriously, "Sadiq couldn't come," earning an equally serious nod from Liliya's mother.

Masaru, a slender, dark-brown haired young man, gave Liliya a small smile, black eyes devoid of emotion. Liliya suppressed a shudder; Of the three children of Helen, Kiku and Sadiq, she much preferred loud-voiced Halil or purple-haired Ran to Masaru. Just because she was pretty creepy herself didn't mean she liked other creepy people.

Unnoticed by everyone else, a woman with green eyes and blonde pigtails walked to the front of the room and called for attention. When she got no results that way, she pulled a whistle out of her pocket and blew heavily on it, everyone flinching and covering their ears in response.

Liliya looked up to see her Auntie Arwen place her hands on her hips, British accent ringing out across the room; "Everyone please sit down. Our special introduction is about to begin."

Every family found their seats a couple paces away from the others, the desks creaking and chairs squeaking in the ensuing silence. Arwen sighed and began. "To start with, I'm going to tell you all something. You're not normal. You're not even not normal in the normal not normal way, if you get what I mean."

No one did, but they didn't say anything for fear that she'd blow her earsplitting whistle again. "Because you're not normal, you have all been placed in a special class of people at this school. For you to enter this class, however, you all must sign a contract. It's nothing really, just a little thing to promise that you will all do the best you possibly can during your time here, and that you won't do anything stupid. Please sign the line at the bottom, if you will."

Liliya looked blankly at her aunt before realizing that there was a sheet of paper before her on the desk, with a pen right next to it. She didn't remember it being there before, but she didn't let it bother her, signing the contract without deigning to read it.

Looking around, she saw that most had done the same as her and were waiting for those who actually bothered looking through the document. These people, trying to read it, were looking more and more confused by the second. Wolfie was clutching his head and staring at the paper, his eyes moving at barely one word per minute. Finally, Elizabeta tapped his shoulder, startling her son and whispering something in his ear. He obeyed, picking up the pen and scribbling his name.

Once every last person had signed, they expected Arwen to go on, but she simply stood at the head of the room. Suddenly, from the back of the room, there was a screech of disbelief.

Everyone whirled around, watching the brunette family as the son watched his mother - her face contorted in pain, features melting, changing - a strange curl springing out of her head, hair shortening -

"Urgh..."

Whipping her head toward her mother, Liliya watched in horror as the mother she'd always known turned into someone else entirely - Breasts disappearing, hair shooting back into her skull, skin tightening over her bones. She even felt herself changing - there was a brief discomfort in her chest, and she struggled to keep her eyes open, feeling as if something was being dug into them. Once the change was over, her mother looked like a whole different person, bangs parted the other way, a large tuft of hair sticking out of the part. She didn't even look like a she anymore - she had clearly gone male. He looked far younger than her mother had, barely twenty years old.

Not sure what to think, Liliya turned to her father for help, but what she got wasn't what she'd expected. His hair had gone silver, but he, too, looked younger - around thirty. His eyes were a haunting shade of purple. Fortunately, he had not switched genders in the last five minutes. Both of the people who had formerly been her parents were looking at her expectantly, faint surprise in both of their faces as well.

"Look, Vanya, she has your eyes!" her "mother" exclaimed, holding Liliya's face in his hands, pulling her towards Ivan. His habits certainly hadn't changed.

"And Ukraine's breasts," Ivan muttered in response, gazing at his daughter in wonder.

Wondering what her father was talking about, Liliya turned her gaze downward.

Oh, God.

Where had THOSE come from?

**… Looong chapter. Hard to write, but good for you, huh?**

**So far, my list of potential love interests for Liliya is as follows, in order of appearance; Olafur, Mila, Filo, and Russo(who hasn't shown up yet, but he's Mateo's brother). I like Mila most, but tell me what you think and I'll try to include a bit of her with that person!**

**Also, what do you think of the little MalAnch I included there?(Bjorn is Malmo, Kirill is Anchorage~)**

**Please review!**


	4. A Grand Explanation

**Well, hello there (creepily raises eyebrows)**

**So, two reviews this time! Not bad, not bad. Thanks, again, to Rennasakura and Friendly-Shadow for your support and advice! As per Friendly's request, I'm planning on posting lists in my comments of what everyone looks like(and also of which cities they represent), but I'm going to do that in a couple chapters. In this one, I'm just going to post the rest of the characters that I haven't introduced before(For the others, check the last chapter);**

**Connie - Wisconsin, freshman**  
><strong>Lynnie - Illinois, junior<strong>

**Not much, but that's it for new introductions. More will come next chapter.**

**Alright! Here's chapter 4!**

Liliya stood abruptly, trying to ignore the resulting _boing _sound from her new... er, "additions" as she demanded, in Russian due to her sheer surprise, "**What the hell is going on?** Auntie Arwen?" She looked to the front of the room, astonished to realize that her aunt, too, had turned into a man, with large, dark eyebrows and scruffy blond hair. The strange man that had once been her aunt removed his glasses and adjusted his green military uniform before answering her.

"Sit down, Liliya."

She flinched briefly in response to her aunt's cold reply, but did as she was asked, frowning and looking at her mother. Or, well, the man who'd been her mother.

The man tried to smile at her, whispering, "It's really nothing, Lily, you'll get used to it."

If her mom had felt distant before, this man trying to comfort her wasn't helping. She looked around the room, seeing only three grown-up women, her auntie Yekaterina, Aran's mom, and Wolfie's mom. She suddenly felt her gaze snapping back to Wolfie, realizing, _His hair is white. Why is his hair white? _Seeing that his father's hair had changed the same way Wolfie's had, she turned back around and set her head on her desk tiredly, not wanting to truly acknowledge what was going on yet. Surely it had to be a gimmick or a ruse or _something._ Women didn't just change into men because their daughters had signed a contract.

She considered herself. The strange man had said she had her father's eyes. Her father had said she had Yekaterina's boobs -

Wait. He hadn't said Yekaterina. He hadn't even said Katyusha.

He'd said Ukraine.

Not lifting her head, she peeked at her father, his purple eyes and silver hair as staggering as ever. What had he meant, Ukraine? Ukraine was a country, or so she'd thought. Had she heard wrong, or maybe it was some screwed-up nickname? Almost nothing could surprise her at this point.

Purple eyes. Her "mom" had said she had Ivan's eyes.

Did she have purple eyes now?

What was wrong with having blue eyes?

She'd liked her blue eyes. She'd been complimented on how pretty they were.

Was she just some freak now?

Something was wrong with her bangs. They were too long, she knew(She'd kept forgetting to get them trimmed for the last two weeks, and once she'd remembered again, she'd been on the plane already) but only her left eye was being obscured, whereas usually she couldn't see very well out of both eyes when they reached this point.

Well, her breasts had bloomed and her eyes had changed color. Why couldn't her hair suddenly change parts, too? Come to think of it, both her parents now had their hair parted over their right eyes.

She straightened herself, hoping her hair would fall into its normal place when she was sitting up. No luck. Noticing that her parents were both looking at her concernedly, she tried to calm herself down. Stress was never good for her, especially in public. Her sadistic side sometimes emerged when she was as confused as she was now. Taking deep breaths, she took another look around the room.

Some of her classmates were taking this even worse than her. Fritzi and her brown-haired cousin were both screaming, the brunette taking his "mother's" face in his hands and grasping it, feeling it as if he could find the female version and pull it out as long as he looked hard enough, the man, for once, quietly taking it and waiting for his son to realize what had really happened and calm down. Luckily for that kid, his father hadn't changed at all except for his age. Fritzi was clinging to her father, face buried in his shirt, crying, "Vati, please tell me Mama didn't just turn into that man! That's not my Mama!" The blond man couldn't seem to decide whether to comfort his daughter or his wife, who was currently in the corner, balled up and crying silent tears, listening to his daughter throw accusations at him.

Filomena was staring dumbly into space, not seeming to notice his mother's anxious questions about whether he was okay. The idea that the only parent he'd ever known wasn't who he'd thought he was seemed to have temporarily broken his mind. Masaru, for once, was at a loss for what to say, having just seen both his "mothers" turn into men, who were trying to explain how it had happened that three men had gotten each other pregnant - "Well, not so much each other, first it was Sadiq getting both Heracles and me, er, yeah, and then Heracles and I, well, we had you-"

Teddy was gesticulating wildly, blathering on and on, his parents trying to get a word in to explain with no luck. "W-why haven't you guys changed? I-I mean, Mom's hair is silver, a-and Dad's eyes and that curl and everything, and you're so young, but everyone else - W-what happened to Allison and Ivan? A-and all those people?" Finally, Wolfie, strangely calm for the situation, was asking his parents questions, "Why is everyone changing? Why is Anya still a woman? Have I changed at all?" patiently waiting for the answers, looking surprised to hear that he'd gone albino, but essentially keeping his cool.

Lily faced front once more, just in time to see her "Aunt Arwen" pull out the whistle once more and cover her ears before it was blown. Setting the whistle down, "Arwen" said, "Please get back to your seats, everyone. We have some things to explain." Despite the pandemonium in the room before, the only sound now was the screech of chairs on the floor and quiet sniffling from those who had been in tears or close to them. Once he was sure everyone was listening, "Arwen" turned to the whiteboard behind him and began writing. Liliya almost asked what he was doing until she saw the first line, which said, "America - Alfred/Allison F. Jones."

She looked at her "mother" for an explanation, but only found a desperate face, silently begging for her to understand. Liliya turned her face back to the board, where "Arwen" was finishing his list.

It looked something like this;

America - Alfred/Allison F. Jones  
>Australia - Jett Aarons<br>Canada - Matthew Williams  
>Denmark - Mathias Køhler<br>East Germany - Gilbert Beischmidt  
>West Germany - Ludwig Beilschmidt<br>Greece - Heracles/Helen Karpusi  
>Hungary - Elizabeta Hedervary<br>North Italy - Feliciano/Feliciana Vargas  
>South Italy - LovinoLovina Vargas  
>Japan - Kiku Honda<br>Poland - Feliks/Filipina Łukasiewicz  
>Russia - Ivan Braginsky<br>Sealand - Peter/Petunia Kirkland  
>Spain - Antonio Fernandez Carriedo<br>Sweden - Berwald/Brigit Oxenstierna  
>Thailand - Virote Angchuan<br>Turkey - Sadiq Adnan  
>Ukraine - Yekaterina "Katyusha" Braginskaya<br>Vietnam - Phuong Ly

Quiet muttering filled the room until Liliya's aunt backed away from the board, taking a deep breath before turning to the teens and their parents. Gesturing to the board, he said, "You may be thinking these are simply your parent's nationalities.

"You're _wrong."_

Letting it sink in, he paused before asking, "If these aren't your parent's nationalities, what do you think they are? How do you think it's possible that almost every single one of your parents is from a different country, and yet you all understand English enough to follow what I'm saying now? Some of you are trilingual, constantly switching from one country to another and back again. Why do you think this is? Can anyone guess?"

There was a long silence before, in the back, someone raised their hand. The Brit's face softened. "Yes? Would you tell me your name before anything else, please?"

The blond, bespectacled boy stood and replied, with a Northern-European accent, "My name is Dyre Køhler-Oxenstierna, sir. My parents are Danish and Swedish, individually. I..." He swallowed, "I'll admit it, I'm very frustrated. Usually I feel like I know everything, but... I can only think you put together some kind of international committee of representatives. One or two from each country." He stopped a second, standing there awkwardly, before saying, "Er, that's it."

"Arwen" nodded thoughtfully, telling the teenager, "You may sit down now, Dyre. You're closer to the truth than you might think."

Suddenly, something struck in Liliya's mind. She scanned the list again. Sure enough, there was Auntie Yekaterina's name, right next to the word "Ukraine" on the list. She bolted out of her seat, waving her hand in the air before "Arwen" - Ha, England, more like it - could continue.

Startled, "Arwen" asked, "Yes, Lily? What is it?"

Not stopping to think before she blurted it out, she shouted, "Our parents are countries!"

Silence was her answer. "Arwen" looked shocked, though Liliya couldn't tell if it was because he was astounded she'd gotten it right, or because he was repulsed by the stupidity of her exclamation.

Desperate to explain her reasoning, she faced Katyusha and said, "Dad said something. I think he talked about you, for I cannot see who else he could have meant - but he said Ukraine, not Yekaterina or Katyusha." As she talked, her confidence that she was right grew. She told "Arwen", "You are England, Auntie Arwen. My parents are America and Russia. And... I think I am something, too."

Someone started clapping. Glancing over her shoulder, Liliya saw Aran's father smiling supportively at her as he put his hands together. His wife was frowning perplexedly, which was when Liliya knew for certain she was right. This woman was Vietnam, the nice clapping man Thailand. Others joined in, some of them Liliya realizing which nations they were before seeing who they were as people. Sweden and Denmark. The Italies and Spain. The Germanies and Hungary.

England held up his hands, calling for order again. When everyone quieted down, he informed his niece, "You're one hundred percent correct, Liliya. I'm actually a little astonished by how fast you got it. With the current juniors, it was a group effort, and, well, there's only one Special Class sophomore, so it took a while with him-"

"You were being very vague with that one, you dumb bastard! If you'd dropped more hints, my Russo would have gotten it right away-"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure he would have, it's all my fault, yes, yes," England interrupted, "And, speaking of which, please don't call me Arwen anymore, Liliya, my name is Arthur."

Liliya nodded silently, still reveling in her victory on the inside.

"Furthermore, you are, as Liliya said, all 'something' as well, that 'something' being cities. For the most part, in your mother's country, though there are a few exceptions, like in the case of Peter over there, as he is simply two hundred square meters. Generally, though, it's usually in parts of the country where the two cultures intersect. Ask your parents for more information."

Alfred's emotions burst forth like a dam giving in to the tide. "Oh, Lily, I couldn't be more proud! Admittedly, Kirill put forth a lot in their discussion and all, but getting the whole thing THAT fast is just amazing!"

Being hugged by her mother, even if he was a man now, gave Liliya a feeling of satisfaction nothing else could. Since Allison usually blew her off in favor of Kirill or Cleo, she now couldn't help feeling that maybe, just maybe, her mother being a country was a good thing, especially as a man.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, craning her neck to see Ivan smiling warmly at her. "So, Portland, getting used to your new мама?"

Liliya stiffened. "What was that you called me?"

"Portland, Liliya. Portland, Oregon."

She blinked. She'd never been to Oregon. She knew nothing about it, besides the Cascade mountain range. Yet, somehow, hearing her true name made something click within her. Portland, Oregon. A place where she belonged, no matter what happened. Portland.

"If I am Portland, who is Kirill? Or Cleo?"

"Kirill's Anchorage, Alaska," Alfred chirped, smiling down at her, "And Cleo... Well, she's a secret for now." He winked.

For once in her life, Liliya smiled back at her mother.

**In the hall...**

"Isn't this exciting, Lily?" Fritzi asked eagerly as they walked down the hall, "Cities! And to think, I'm Venice of all places! Guess it kind of explains my hopeless romantic attitude, huh?"

Wolfie smiled quietly, continuing to contemplate his new name, "Eger. I've never heard much about it! I wonder what it's like, I should do some research..."

"At least I know a bit about Krakow," Filo chuckled, "It's supposed to be a pretty interesting place. Lots of students and history."

Lily smiled uncomfortably, adjusting her crossed arms in the hope that the next place on their tour would be close; They'd been informed that they'd receive any important wardrobe changes there, and since she got the feeling that her bra had snapped during her change, she was more than a little bit self-conscious, especially with the resounding BOING that resulted from any major movements.

Altogether, her friends hadn't changed much, besides Wolfie's hair and eyes suddenly losing all their pigment. The transformation didn't seem to agree with the dye in Filo's hair much, making it go from red back to blonde. After the transformation, with his mother becoming a guy and him losing the dye, he and Poland had looked extremely similar, besides Filo's shorter hair. Fritzi's eyes were now a lovely amber color, as opposed to their former brown, but her hair was still it's gorgeous cross between gold and cinnamon and her face was completely unchanged.

"Over here," Auntie Arwen - no, wait, it was _Uncle Arthur - _called, waving the teens into the room, "You'll see your parents at dinner, now come along - there you go."

Hustling in, Liliya was a little confused for a second, unable to see over anyone's heads from being so short(she could only imagine how bad it must be fore Wolfie) until she heard a familiar voice call, "Everyone sit down! The quicker we get this done, the happier I'll be!"

"Auntie Nataliya?" Lily exclaimed, pushing between her classmates and seeing her aunt in her usual getup, a blue maid-like dress with her long, blond hair pulled back from her face by a white ribbon. Temporarily forgetting about her condition, she bounded up to Nataliya(her classmates politely ignoring the boing sounds) and gave her the biggest hug she could muster, pulling back to say, "I didn't know you'd be here!"

"Of course I am, Liliya," she answered, giving her niece a smile that would have most people shaking in their skins, but only made Liliya smile back, equally creepily, "I've been teaching here since the Special Class opened."

"Well, that's quite a comfort," Lily giggled, a truly foreboding sound, "I was worried about how I'd control myself without your guidance."

Wolfie rubbed his arms and Filo gasped, "Is it just me, or did the temperature in here just drop several degrees?"

Lily came back to herself, snapping out of her sadistic mode to say, "Oh, Auntie Nataliya! I've made some friends - here's Filo, and that's Wolfie, and that's Fritzi!"

Wolfie and Filo managed to hold back their fear, but Fritzi was trembling as she shook Nataliya's hand, avoiding the woman's gaze. Noticing this, Lily turned the subject back to her aunt. "So, Auntie, are you a country, too?"

"Why, yes, I am. My true name is Belarus."

"Really? That's so cool!"

"Indeed it is. However, I have business to attend to, so if you please-"

"Oh! Of course, Auntie," Liliya interrupted, seeming to read her aunt's mind and guiding her friends to the chairs.

Sitting down, Lily looked expectantly at her aunt while her classmates(excluding her friends) looked, troubled, at her. She'd seemed fine before, but what was that aura that had surrounded her and her aunt, and why didn't her friends seem to notice besides the dropping of the temperature?

The room was an interesting one for a school. Whereas the former had been a simple classroom, this was a small chamber with comfortable seats, with another door behind the teacher's desk. It was like an office, but it had no decorations anywhere on the walls or the desk besides a clipboard, which Nataliya was currently picking up.

"First, Aran Angchuan-Ly, otherwise known as Ho Chi Minh City. Go through the door so we can suit you up."

Aran, throughly relieved at being the first to get out of there, stood and thrust himself through the door, greeting someone on the other side before closing the door behind him.

Lily tried to get comfortable, telling herself, _Braginsky-Jones is pretty close to the beginning of the alphabet, right? I'll be able to get in there soon, if not next. _

She was wrong; next to be called was Wolfie, who looked at her sympathetically as Aran exited the next room and he was allowed in.

Aran was now clad in what was apparently the male Asian-class uniform, black pants and overshirt with red trim and black shoes, all thrown together over a white shirt. He shuffled uncomfortably, clearly not happy with having to wear the ensemble but not about to say anything about it.

Filo looked at him and jumped. "Oh, yeah! Miss Belarus, I already have a couple uniforms, so I won't be needing these."

Nataliya looked at him curiously, saying, "Well, why don't you go get it?"

"Y-yes, ma'am."

Fritzi and Lily watched him as he bolted out of the room, glancing at each other in wonder.

"Think she's got her mom's old uniforms or something?" Fritzi asked, fiddling with a clump of wavy hair.

Lily was about to ask, "She?" when she remembered that Fritzi didn't realize Filo was a boy. Supposing that seeing him in the boy's uniform would be enough to tell her without Lily having to break it to her, she said, "Probably."

"Fritzi Beilschmidt-Vargas, otherwise known as Venice."

"Oh!" Fritzi stood, shooting a look at Lily before saying, "Can Lily go before me? I'm fine with waiting for now."

Lily bit her lip, wanting to thank her friend but knowing Fritzi would just end up in more trouble with her aunt. She knew her aunt well, and first impressions were very important to her. Since Nataliya was more likely to look down on Fritzi for being insolent than admire her for letting Lily go first, she didn't want to help the bad relationship along.

Nataliya sent Fritzi a cold stare just as Wolfie entered the room in his too-large European class uniform, blinking confusedly at the scene before him.

Fritzi soundlessly broke eye contact with Nataliya and entered the next room, glancing over her shoulder at Lily. Not wanting to fuel the fire, Lily merely winked, hoping it would be enough for now.

Wolfie set himself down beside Lily, glancing around and asking, "Where did Filo go?"

"Apparently Poland had some old uniforms," Lily replied, careful not to use any pronouns that could give away Filo's identity since she wasn't sure if Wolfie knew about Filo's gender.

"Oh, yeah!" Wolfie interjected, toning down his voice to whisper in Lily's ear, "Fritzi thinks Filo's a girl."

"I knew that," Lily whispered back, "What should we do about it?"

"That's what I was going to ask you! I guess we'll leave it up to him."

"Liliya Braginsky-Jones, otherwise known as Portland."

Lily smiled at Fritzi as she passed her in the doorway, looking past her to see someone very familiar, though she couldn't place where she'd seen her before, along with a tall girl she didn't know at all.

The stranger had chest-length, reddish-blond hair, oval-shaped glasses similar to what Kirill wore, and what Liliya would soon learn was the recently-created America class uniform, a navy-blue blazer with a navy-blue, wide pleated skirt, a black leather belt, and a white polo with a black necktie. She wore black shoes paired with simple white knee-high socks. The look on her face was that of evanescent annoyance, which Lily predicted would disappear to be replaced by pretentious friendliness in three, two, one - bingo.

The faintly familiar girl also wore the America class uniform, though it was a bit more personalized - crooked neckbow, along with bright green-and-yellow striped knee socks. She was almost half the other girl's height, even shorter than Lily and probably Wolfie, with greenish-blue eyes and pale blond, chest-length hair with long bangs - actually, it basically looked like a longer version of Lily's own multi-layered, shoulder-length haircut, reminding her, seeing the family resemblance through the lost years, the smaller stature -

"Connie?" she exclaimed, realizing a moment later, "You're Wisconsin, aren't you?"

Connie laughed joyfully, tugging on the other girl's sleeve, "See, I told you, Illinois! She recognized me right away! And her English sounds much better than last time, I told you she was trying!"

Lily frowned, realizing how much easier English was coming to her all of a sudden. Was it because she was in her form as an American city?

"That's nice, Wisconsin."

Connie put on her legendary pouty-face. "You're so mean, Lynnie! Bet you're just down cuz you know I'm going to be OWNING you again this football season!"

"Does EVERYTHING have to be about football with you?"

"It's either football... Or cheese."

"God, not that again..."

Connie laughed again, turning back to Lily, "Don't you just love her? This is Illinois, my best friend and closest sister!"

"As if."

"You shut your mouth! I know you don't give a crap about Iowa or Minnesota either!"

"Minnesota seemed to be giving YOU a lot of crap last hockey season."

"As if you could do any better!"

"Er," Lily interrupted, recognizing a sisterly argument when she saw one, "What were you going to do to me again?"

**… I was planning on getting a lot more events in this chapter, but I'm not going to have any time to write this weekend(coincidentially, I'm going down to Illinois for a family thing. I'm going to see my ((VERY, VERY, RICH)) big brother for the first time in months!). Soo... the only introductions I got to were Connie and Lynnie, who are currently attending the same school as Lily. Connie is in Lily's grade, Lynnie's in Kirill's.**


	5. New Tune

**Well, hey there!**

**It's been a while... For the most part, I'm doing everything the same, but first I have something to clear up;**

**THE KIDS ARE CITIES, NOT STATES. I figured states, provinces, territories and all those other names for them already exist, since Mr. Himaruya already introduced a couple Japanese territories and all. I'm SO sorry for not making that clear enough! I'm such a derp as a writer...**

**Anyway, chapter five. Introductions;**

**Bega - Austria and Switzerland's son, junior**  
><strong>Xiao-Niao - Korea and China's daughter, junior, WE DON'T LIKE HER<strong>  
><strong>Douglas and Alex - Australia and Sealand's sons, one junior, one freshman<strong>

**Enjoy!**

"Sorry about that, Lily," Connie chuckled nervously, "Lynnie and I get a little aggressive sometimes. We get along great, we really do, but sometimes... Anyway! We can measure you for proper undergarments right now, then we'll get you into the America class uniform - Oh, by the way, which city are you again?"

"Erm, Portland."

She pouted. "Damn! I hoped it would at least be nearby. I guess there aren't many Russians in the Midwest anyway, but every time I find myself hoping."

After the brief, tense measurements, Connie and Lynnie selected some new clothes for Lily and directed her behind the curtain. "The right mirror shows you as you are, but the left mirror's magic and will show you in full city form, with your uniform and everything! I like looking in there, reminds me of home whenever I see my usual clothes."

Lily restrained herself from looking in the mirror until she'd changed, tugging at her tacky neckbow in front of the normal mirror before stepping to her left to observe her full city form.

Luckily for her, instead of the gigantic breasts she'd expected since hearing her father compare her to Auntie Katyusha, hers were a size or two smaller, at least better controlled and making less noise now that she had a well-fitting bra. The new part in her hair and the eerie purple eyes looking back at her were as jarring as was expected, but her outfit as a city itself surprised her with its familiarity, even if it wasn't anything already in her wardrobe. A short-skirted, pleated black dress with a thin belt around her waist. Her favorite black knitted hat with the plus-sign-shaped design on the front and her petite, silver, glittery scarf. Black combat boots combined with thigh-high red-and-black striped socks. A pair of red fingerless gloves. She even had a pair of glass bottles tied to her belt(Don't ask. At least not yet.). Everything looked so... her.

"Where is this outfit in real life, Connie?" She called through the curtain, figuring Connie would know what she was talking about.

"It's wherever you need it to be, Lily. It could be right here if you needed it to."

Lily looked at the table, pointed at it, and said, "Could it be there?"

In seconds, there it was, folded neatly and just begging for her to pick it up, her scarf and glass bottles set on top of the pile.

She stared at it for a second. Then, as if telling it what to do, she uttered the words, "In my room. With my suitcase." And it was gone.

_Well, _she thought to herself, _It can't be much worse than me finding out I'm actually a city._

There was a knock on the door, making everyone jump, along with Auntie Nataliya's voice yelling, "Keep it moving, Lynnie, we're behind schedule as it is!"

Nodding goodbye to her two - aunts, was it? She'd have to ask her parents how the states were related to the countries - Lily walked out the door, heading for her friends as Alex walked past her. She heard her aunt apologize to him for the mix-up - What mix-up? She asked herself, not realizing Aarons-Kirkland came before Angchuan-Ly.

Turning back to her friends, she noticed Filo was back.

Wearing the girls' uniform.

Why did she even bother hoping?

"Filo?" she uttered, telling herself she wasn't even surprised anymore, even though she most certainly was. Filo responded with a discreet wink, unseen by Fritzi, who was staring at Lily, before responding.

"Why, Lily, you look so cute in the America uniform!" he cried, holding out his arms to her, even talking on an effeminate, girlish voice as he force-hugged her. He looked back at Fritzi and Wolfie, chirping, "Doesn't she look great?"

"One of these days, Filo," she grumbled to herself, vowing to make sure the truth eventually was revealed to her gullible roommate in the most painful way possible for her crossdressing guy friend.

"Lily," Fritzi inhaled, as if just noticing her even though she'd been staring at her for the last two minutes, "You..." Suddenly a great smile bloomed on her face, her voice sounding out, "You are SO CUTE!" Shoving Filo to the side, impervious to his pain, she squeezed Lily to her bosom, quite nearly suffocating the latter, though Lily was glad she was at least getting a genuine hug from Fritzi, not the fake-feeling, shammish embrace Filo had given her.

Wolfie looked on, reddish-pink eyes lighting up with amusement at Fritzi's reaction. Filo was a touch put off by Fritzi's pushing him aside, but he, too, couldn't help but laugh at the taller girl as she came very close to cracking a couple of Lily's ribs.

**A bit later**

"And here is our Art department," called Nataliya. "This will be the last stop on our tour for today. After I've shown you around, you may explore on your own until dinner, when we'll be having a special gathering for all three Special Classes and their parents. It will take place in the King Charles building that I showed you before."

There was thankful muttering, the Special Class freshmen clearly relieved to be almost done with the tour at last. Lily and her crew were near the front, just as relieved as everyone else(Though for different reasons, seeing as three of them weren't creeped out by Miss Belarus at all) and quite ready to do some wandering of their own.

They paid little attention as Nataliya led them through the Art block, nodding every once in a while and noticing disappearances of their fellow Freshmen every so often, as if their classmates couldn't wait long enough for the tour to be over. Some had already stayed behind during lunch, so the group that had been small before was dwindling towards tinyness. By the time they reached the end, Lily's crew were the only ones there, besides Dyre, the nerdy Swede they'd met before.

This seemed to set Nataliya off, turning to the group at the end only to see five bored-out-of-their-minds students. After growling a quiet farewell to her niece, the formidable nation stormed off to the building she taught in with the other Language teachers.

Glancing at her friends(plus the one misfit. What WAS Dyre doing there?), Lily asked, "So... Where do you guys want to go?"

Still talking like he'd been female all his life, Filo answered, "I don't particularly care. Feels like the Art block would be the coolest educational building anyway, so we might as well start where we're at."

Fritzi nodded vigorously, agreeing with him.

"This is fine with me," Wolfie put in. He inclined his head to look at Dyre. "What do you think?"

Dyre fiddled with his glasses for a moment before shrugging. "Nowhere else to go. Nobody else likes me enough to invite me along."

"Well, welcome on board our Boat of Misfits," Filo chortled, slapping Dyre on the shoulder, then, glancing at Fritzi, quickly sliding his hand away and settling into a more feminine pose. Wolfie's nostrils flared mysteriously for a second, eyebrows raising, before he seemed to calm down a bit and pulled out his camera.

"Guys? C-can I take a picture? Since you're my new friends and all..."

"Oh, sure!" Fritzi sang, pulling Filo and Lily towards her, then Dyre, "Come on, crunch in, guys! Wolfie, is there any way you can get in the picture with us?"

"I think one of you would have to press the button, since my arms are too short to hold it out that far-"

"Let me," interrupted Dyre, the tallest one there, "I'm on the edge, so I can get us all in."

There, in front of the Art building, the five took their first picture as friends. Dyre might not yet have been fully initiated, but looking at the picture on the little screen of Wolfie's digital camera, they felt a strange sense of unity. In the middle of the upward-slanted picture were Fritzi and Lily, the former once again hugging the petite American. To their left was Filo, with his/her knowing smile hanging on his countenance. Squashed in on the bottom and right side were Wolfie and Dyre, Wolfie looking a bit hassled but still smiling shyly and Dyre, the newcomer, sheepishly grinning as he held the camera steady.

Lily smiled down at the image, knowing this could be valuable to her in the future. Even though she'd just met them all that morning, she felt connected to all four of the others already.

"You should print a copy for all five of us, Wolfie."

"Great idea, Lily! I want to hang mine on our wall! Then you can use yours for whatever you want and stuff," Fritzi exclaimed.

Filo cleared his throat. "Anyway, about exploring?"

"Oh, yeah! What do you guys want to find first? I really want to see the music rooms again. I think I heard someone playing some Vivaldi in there-"

"Of course YOU'D recognize Vivaldi, Fritz."

"Don't call me Fritz, Filo, Wolfie's dad calls me that all the time! He says its like this old leader of his or something."

"Music rooms it is... I think it was this way..."

"No, Wolfie, Miss Belarus definitely led us upstairs for that, remember? Because Teddy fell behind and got lost downstairs."

"Oh, Dyre's right, guys, sorry."

There was a strange gasp behind them. The five whipped around to see a spacey-looking girl(Seriously. She was spacey-looking enough for FRITZI to notice.) with sleek black hair pulled half-up, coal-colored eyes, and the skirt for her Asian-Class uniform hemmed so short it was practically a belt.

"Freshies?" eeked the strange girl, a pretentious smile crossing her face. Lily shivered, disliking her immediately. Fritzi was one thing, but when a girl was acting cutsie on purpose, she just didn't take to them.

Dyre made a strange noise in his throat, glancing at his pals before introducing himself, "Uh, hello. I'm Dyre, and you're correct, we're freshmen. Your name was?"

"Shishi! Mama always calls Shishi Xiao-Niao, but he's wrong! Shishi is Shishi!"

"Oh, dear _God," _someone groaned. Another person was approaching down the hall, his eyes closed and his voice grouchy. Lily thought she might recognize the voice from somewhere, but she didn't recall ever seeing this person. The boy was almost as short as Wolfie, with an oversized European-class uniform and black hair. His eyes were closed, and he walked with his hand tracing the wall.

"Shishi" glared pointedly at the stranger, making it clear she didn't like him before muttering, "Oh, here comes Chichi, on a quest to ruin Shishi's fun."

"It's Qing-Nian, Xiao-Niao, and I'd appreciate it if you stopped making fun of retarded people right now and acted your own age."

Xiao-Niao scoffed, "Shishi is NOT retarded! If anyone has something wrong with their BRAIN, it's Chichi!"

"I never said you were retarded, Xiao-Niao. Just that you were acting like it. Now, have you seen Olafur anywhere?"

"Shishi thinks it would be obvious that Ol isn't here, considering all the curtains are wide open."

Deigning to open his eyes for just a moment, revealing chips of ice that could freeze Hell if Qing-Nian pleased, the diminutive boy hissed, "Well, how am I supposed to know that if I can't look for myself?"

As usual when Qing-Nian sent such an evil glare anywhere, Xiao-Niao shivered, despite that Qing-Nian was looking at the wall about two feet to her left. She stood her ground for a moment before releasing a "hmph!" and stomping away, never mind the "freshies".

The five freshmen watched her leave. Lily was the first to ask Qing-Nian, "What was that about?"

As he replied, she noticed he had his eyes closed once more, lapsing back into a slightly more relaxed state(though, even when Qing-Nian was relaxed, she would find, he was still pretty edgy). "She's my cousin. Absolutely batshit." At this point, he held his hand out to her, or at least the closest he could get, basing it only off the direction of her voice. "Krafla, Iceland."

Lily was taken aback for a moment, then realized the reasoning behind his words. "Portland, United States." She shook his hand.

"Ah, Kirill's sister," was the resulting murmur. Then, after an awkward pause, he said, "So, er... Is there anyone else with you? I hear... breathing."

As Fritzi, Filo, Wolfie, and Dyre introduced themselves individually as Venice, Krakow, Eger, and Kalmar, Lily thought she heard someone open a door down the hallway. Qing-Nian must have noticed, too, because his head turned in the general direction just as Dyre was finishing saying the word "Sweden."

"Nice to meet you, Kalmar - Olafur? Was that you?"

"Yeah..."

"Are you stuck again?"

"It's not my fault this time. Could you get the curtains? Or maybe those people with you?"

Qing-Nian nodded to his acquaintances, asking silently if they could do it for him as he headed in the general direction of the light switches. Lily and her friends looked curiously at each other as they drew the curtains. After a moment of groping around the wall, Qing-Nian got the lights.

The boy previously identified as Olafur exited the room he'd been "stuck" in, approaching the group. He probably was the only person in the school that could defy the school rules the way he was; he wore a brimmed hat, a turtleneck underneath his school sweater, and thick, well-worn gloves that looked as if they could almost be part of his hands. His eyes were hidden underneath the brim of his hat, giving him an altogether creepy appearance until he lifted his head, revealing cold blue eyes identical to Qing-Nian's, adding to his mysterious aura. It was almost as if his eyes provided their own light, the only kind he could seem to stand.

Qing-Nian frowned at him as he heard the taller boy's footsteps in the hall. "What happened this time, Ol? Had to stay behind again?"

"It's these gloves, Qing-Nian. Twice the time to produce the same quality of art. I was just finishing my painting, and they opened everything up on me, even though my umbrella's all the way down the hall, at the door to the building."

"And it took you _this long? _Classes ended for the day half an hour ago!"

"I was just trying to make it look good."

Qing-Nian harrumphed. Lily was getting the feeling that he was one of those people that, the more he tried to hold himself back, the more trouble his mouth would get him into. Seeing him and Olafur side-by-side, she was having difficulty telling if they were brothers, cousins, or just friends. The only thing they seemed to have in common were their chilling eyes and the faint traces of Asian heritage they had on their faces, the squinty eyes and broad heads. Otherwise, while Qing-Nian was incredibly short, Olafur was fairly tall. Not terribly or intimidatingly tall, but he had an inch or two on Fritzi and Filo, and though he was smaller and slighter than Dyre, his mysteriousness gave a virtual four inches to his height. While Qing-Nian's hair was dark brown, nearly black, Olafur's was several shades lighter. Olafur's skin was frighteningly pale, as if it had never been touched by sunlight at all, but Qing-Nian's was a healthy olive color.

Olafur, apparently tired of his and Qing-Nian's argument, observed Lily. His gaze rested on her chest. "Now, _those _definitely weren't there last night. How many tissues did that take?"

Lily felt her face flush. "These are completely real!"

Fritzi seemed to come to her senses, bending down to whisper in Lily's ear. "I just realized, Lily! That guy's the one who carried you in last night!"

Lily gaped at Olafur. "I can't believe Kirill let a creeper like you carry me!"

Ignoring her remark, Olafur bent down to see Lily's chest up-close. "Only one way to tell if these are - OW!"

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, seeing Qing-Nian pinch his companion's ear. The small youth's voice was stern as he said hurriedly, "Nice to meet you, freshmen. In case it interests you, this is my twin brother, Keflavik, and I'm sure he has SOMETHING better to do than motorboat someone he just met." Nodding curtly, he left them with, "Sorry about that," actually sounding genuinely apologetic on Olafur's behalf. Lily let herself assume he was a nicer person than he seemed like on the outside.

Olafur, on the other hand, was staring at her with his creepy blue eyes even as he was being dragged away, grabbing his umbrella before Qing-Nian had a chance to open the doors on him.

"Well, THAT was interesting," Filo observed. "What do you make of it?"

"Olafur's weird and has something wrong with him. And Qing-Nian's blind." Lily stopped herself from adding what she'd assumed a moment earlier, about Qing-Nian being nicer than he looked.

"Krafla and Keflavik, Lily. Not Qing-Nian and Olafur," Dyre corrected her, fiddling with his glasses once again, "And I believe Keflavik has an allergy to light."

"An allergy to light? Is that possible?" Fritzi questioned.

"Of course it is. You see-"

"Let's just get upstairs, shall we?" Lily interrupted, not wanting Dyre to go off on an intellectual rant or something equally torturous.

Upon opening the door to the second floor, violin music poured through their ears, lively and invigorating. Wolfie closed his eyes, relishing the sound. "Definitely Bega, Fritzi. This is his sound."

Fritzi smiled warmly. "Yeah, no one else plays quite like him. I think he's over here."

"Who's Bega?" Filo asked, a touch irritated that he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Oh! Another cousin," Fritzi explained, "He's... Austrian and Swiss, so I guess that makes him the son of Austria and Switzerland. Gee, I wonder if Auntie Vada's really a man, too?"

"I always thought she was a touch too obsessed with guns," Wolfie mumbled.

"Guns?" Dyre asked, eyes widening. "Mom doesn't let me touch them. Have you ever...?"

Suddenly, the violin music stopped. They heard a growl of frustration coming from their right, at last peeking through a cracked-open door to see a slender, brown-haired boy, scribbling down a note for himself on the sheet music in front of him. He had a mole by his mouth and straight, chin-length hair. When he glanced at the door to see what was making noise, Lily saw that his eyes were a dark purple.

He was beautiful.

"Fritzi? That you?" he called, having seen his female cousin first, then noticing Wolfie crouching behind his pals. "And Wolfie! Wow, it sure is strange seeing you with Prussia's coloring," and there came a joyful laugh, warming up Lily's insides. This guy was not only pretty, he was nice, too.

"Hi, Bega! Whatcha got there?"

The frustrated expression came back on his face as Bega glared at the music. "I... I thought I'd try my hand at composing, but it just isn't coming out right. This note sounds too off in this one phrase."

Lily wanted to slap herself. Tell herself to snap out of it. Of course, though, she couldn't control it; since the moment she'd seen him, she was thinking, _PRETTYPRETTYPRETTY OHHH I WANT TO LOCK HIM IN MY CLOSET SO BAD AND FOLLOW HIM AROUND AND MAYBE SMASH HIS HEAD A LITTLE AND AND AND..._

"And who might these people be?"

Lily jumped. He was talking about her! Looking at her! Oh, he was cute. Really, really cute. Cute enough to give her the feeling her Auntie Nataliya described as "the first obsession".

"Okay, guys, this is Bega! His other name is Saint Gallen-"

She was right! He really WAS a saint!

"-Which is a really cool city in Eastern Switzerland!"

Oh, yeah. He wasn't a saint. No, he was just a city.

"So, you know Wolfie - he's Eger, by the way, and I'm Venice - and this Dyre, or Kalmar. Filo here is Krakow, and right there-"

He was looking at her again! Eek!

"That's Lily, Portland! Isn't she just -"

Oh, no, Fritzi, don't hug her now! You can't hug her now!

"- the -"

Lily braced herself for the embarrassment.

" - CUTEST thing?"

Dodging out of the way just in time, Fritzi found her face smashed into the wall and Lily found herself being stared at from every direction. She felt heat crawl onto her face.

"Er, sorry, Fritzi..."

Pulling her face out of the wall and holding back silent tears, Fritzi smiled forgivingly at Lily. "I-it's okay, Lily... B-but, next time, could you just tell me you're not in a huggy mood? I really don't mind, as long as it makes you feel better. Not to be hugged, I mean."

Lily felt an inch-thick layer of regret coat her brain for being so stupid. How would accepting a hug from Fritzi be any more embarrassing than dodging? Fritzi was too nice to assume the worst about her, but Bega was sure to be a little put off.

_It's just like Auntie Nataliya told me, _she thought to herself, _the more obsessed you are about someone, the more stupid decisions you'll make._

Risking a glance at Bega, she found him wearing an appalled expression, though it somehow seemed more directed at Fritzi than herself.

"Fritzi! What have I told you about personal space?"

Lily almost dropped right there. He was concerned about her!

**A couple hours later**

"Hey, Mom, **Hey, Dad,**" Lily greeted her parents as she entered the dining room she'd been directed to for a special dinner with the rest of the Special Class and their parents. She was already feeling like she had a niche of her own at this school.

Though seeing her mom as a man had been jarring at first, Lily was getting more and more used to the idea as her parents turned and smiled at her. "Oh, Lily, you're here! Good to see you, I can't figure out where Kirill's gone - oh, there he is, with that Bjorn kid. Who's that?"

"That's Dyre, Mom. Remember, from this morning? I got to know him, he's really nice."

Alfred paused for a second, then looked at his daughter curiously. "Did you just use a conjugation properly two times in a row?"

"**I have no idea what you're talking about, Mama.**"

"Oh, boo hoo, you keep forgetting I understand Russian fine. I just have a hard time speaking it. Kirill! Over here!"

Lily almost didn't notice her brother at all, until he was right in front of her, in all his citified glory. She popped her eyes up at him, exclaiming, "Kirill! Your hair!"

Popping his own eyes right back down at her, he reciprocated with, "Lily! Your boobs!"

Kirill seemed to be even taller than when she'd seen him last, with silver hair like their father's and lavender eyes, like her own. There was a strange tuft of hair, similar to their mother's, sticking up from the whorl of hair at the back of his head. Overall, though, he was still essentially her big, delightfully awkward brother, no bizarre gender swaps or mutations to speak of.

After a brief sharing of information, Kirill pulled them toward their family's usual table, with five chairs and a small sign in the middle of it saying "The Braginsky-Jones family". Once they'd seated themselves, there was only one open chair left, which Lily supposed would be occupied by Cleo one day. She glanced around the room; it was a large dining hall, with a small stage right next to their own seats. The next table over was for the "Kohler-Oxenstierna" family, which, she reminded herself, was Dyre's group. A bit farther away was a tiny table with only two chairs, labeled "Lukasiewicz". It took her a second before she realized this must be Filo and his mom, with a misspelling of their surname.

She waved to her friends as they sat themselves. Up on the stage, Uncle Arthur was standing at a podium, nodding at Jack and Uncle Francis as he rifled through a couple papers. Once everyone was seated, he cleared his throat and began.

"Alright, welcome to the third year of the Special Class Celebrations here at World W Academy. As you all now know, you are special, special people-"

"Get on with it already!" came a loud, very Australian-sounding shout from the other end of the room. Arthur sent whoever it was(*cough*unclejett*cough*) a dirty look, sighing and continuing.

"-and there's obviously some clarification in order. See, a few years back, we nations had a regularly-scheduled meeting, discussing hot topics and so on, when Romania, Norway and I - we're the only three magically gifted nations, you see-"

On and on, England droned, telling all about this and that and the history of how it became possible for nations to have children and the decision they'd all come to. After a few minutes of this, he got back on the track that everyone else actually cared about. "So here you are. Before you are served, we have some things to take care of. First off, I have to warn you - the way your mothers were disguised? You'll all have a reason to switch genders through magic every now and then. It's simply a fact of life, especially on government business. So, every year, for one randomly selected month, everyone attending this school will have to go as the opposite gender. For those who are new here, I'm going to show you the other forms of the people you haven't already seen as both genders. It's just an illusion, so don't be alarmed."

Waving his hand in the air, there was a brief second before the illusions appeared. Lily couldn't stop herself from giggling at her father reduced to a small, curvaceous woman, with a build actually very similar to her own. Pointing, she remarked, "You look like I did before I cut my hair."

It was true; they both now had light blond hair and lavender eyes, and with the similar builds, they could have been twins. Lily now observed her brother, who was still tall, slouching in his seat with his arms crossed over his small chest. He now had light blond hair as well, though it had retained its waviness and tumbled down to his waist. His glasses had momentarily disappeared, but his hair tuft was still there.

"What are _you _looking at?" he asked poutily. It was obvious he didn't like being in female form.

Lily burst out laughing.

**That's it... (collapes on ground)**

**Okay! Russo comes next chapter. He's Love Interest Number Four. I now have a poll for this! Though, I'd wait to vote until you meet Russo. You never know what might change your mind.**

**I didn't even mean for Dyre to become friends with them... HOW DID THAT HAPPEN**

**Anyway, sorry for the lateness, and please review!**


	6. Invisibility

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**

**I'm sorry for the late post T.T Once a week might not happen over the next couple weeks, what with my mom freaking out over my sister's use of her computer(She's been doing some baaaad stuff on there) and my not even having my own, but I should be able to get my own computer within the next couple months. Please be patient with me until then!**

**Anyway! No introductions this time, because I figure you'll be able to figure it out based off of what I've posted in the past. In that case, please enjoy Chapter 6!**

Having eaten her fill of Russian Pelmeni(She was astonished; it was some of the best food she'd ever tasted, and at a school, too!) and vanilla ice cream, Lily sat back in her seat, observing the low-lit room around her. Her brother and father had both reverted back to their tall, silver-haired selves since the beginning of dinner, cutting short the novelty of making fun of Kirill the girl(or, as per his usual female name, Katya the girl).

They seemed to be seated according to their father's location on the globe, with their own table off to the right, and Asian and East-European countries nearby. Filo and his mother were yammering away in Polish, the younger blonde sending Lily a glance every so often. Dyre and his mom seemed to be a little angry at the man of the house, while Bjorn, sitting nearest to their own table, was constantly turning around to bother Kirill. It took her a couple seconds to locate Wolfie, then a couple more to find Fritzi. With her golden hair pulled back with a headband, Fritzi looked very similar to her father with his slicked-back hair, though a good bit less severe.

Most tables weren't especially large, besides one in the West-European section, holding Trey and the rest of his family. There were his parents, of course, along with two older boys, a seemingly airheaded brunet and a very worried-looking, wavy-haired redhead. Altogether, they only took up a tiny section of the table, despite already having the most kids in the high school from one family.

There was, of course, one table with no candles at it whatsoever and farther from all the others, with four open seats, four occupied. Upon noticing it, Lily snapped her head back, telling herself she didn't feel icy blue eyes boring into the back of her head. The tiny dark spot was lit only with the leftover light from everywhere else, and she could tell why.

Lily saw her aunt Arthur approach the podium once more to announce that everyone was free to move around and communicate with one another. She immediately got up and hugged her parents, telling them she was going to find her friends. Before leaving the table, though, she found herself in a familiar embrace.

Smiling resignedly, she chuckled, "Hi, Fritzi."

There was a giggle of acknowledgement as the red-blonde whirled Lily around, trilling, "Lily, meet my big sister, Mila!"

Lily felt herself involuntarily raise her eyebrows at the sight of Fritzi's older sister, who was shorter and broader than Fritzi in every way, including, it seemed, her patience. She had a frustrated, yet indulgent look on her face, one that Lily could have sworn she'd seen on Germany's earlier when he was talking to Fritzi's mom. The girl had dark, straight reddish-brown hair in a ponytail, with a very slight curl protruding from her side-bangs, as contrasted with Fritzi's light, wavy hair, with no curl at all. Her eyes were a sweet blue color, eyebrows furrowed, yet mouth smiling, just a bit. She had large, circular metal earrings and an overall fashionable appearance. Lily could tell just from sight, though, that this was a doting sister.

Extending her hand, still trying to stop herself from smiling, Mila said, "Fritzi, Mom and Dad wanted us to greet the boys before running off, remember? Auntie Lovino's gonna smash your head in if he sees you blowing him off. Besides, it's been a while since we've seen Trey or Russo - at least for me, anyway. Come on." Nodding to Lily as she took her little sister's hand, she laughed, "You can come with us, if you want. Sorry if Fritzi's being a pain. Name's Mila, but that's Milan to you." She jokingly pointed her finger at Lily, pretending to chastise her.

Not knowing what else to do, Lily agreed, introducing herself as Portland and assuring the junior that Fritzi was no trouble at all. Fritzi's face lit up with joy upon hearing this, ripping her hand out of Mila's to, once again, pounce on Lily.

Upon crossing the room(and passing Wolfie, who was being pestered by his mother), Lily found herself in front of a trio of young men, the one she recognized being Trey of Fritzi's and her grade. Despite his worked-up attitude earlier, he now was calm enough to give her a simple nod.

Fritzi and Mila both gave their cousins one hug each, sharing cordial greetings before Frtizi turned to Lily and peeped, "This is Lily, my new friend! She represents the city of Portland, Oregon. These are my cousins, Mateo, Russo, and Trey!"

The oldest-looking one(Lily couldn't be certain, since he was also shorter than his brothers) belt out, "I remember you! Yeah, I'm a friend of Kirill's. I helped you and your family out last night. I'm Mateo, like Fritzi said. You can call me Mateo or my city name, Taranto." His hair was similar to the man she'd seen earlier that Lily supposed was his father, aside from the curl sticking up from his head, resembling a question mark. His eyes were a glossy amber color, and his body overall was stocky and muscular.

The tall, red-headed one smiled quietly, speaking in a slow, firm voice, "I'm Russo, and I'm a year older than you. I'm Naples, but please call me by my human name." This one was an admirable height, with wavy red hair styled similarly to Fritzi's mom and a slender curl extending from the left side of his head. He was pretty thin, but also had some very nice muscle definition.

"You know me," Trey sighed, "Trey. Reggio Calabria. Whatever." He, for the most part, looked like a darker-haired version of his mother, if a little bit taller and without the hair curl.

"Trey, you could at least try to be more friendly than that."

"Shut your mouth, Russo! I'm still getting used to this whole city thing, don't rush me."

"Ah, Russo, look how not cute he is."

"Yeah, he's so not cute. Wish Bambina could come to school with us already."

"But Russo, she's never gonna be in school with us! We're too old! But Adan and Amando might be fun, are they coming next year?"

"No, Mat, they're two years younger than Trey, remember?"

"Oh. Damn. How do you remember this stuff?"

"I'm pretty sure it's more normal to remember how old your siblings are than not to."

"Yeah, but normal families aren't as big as ours. And I'm getting better! Remember the time when I couldn't remember Rui's name?"

"Still don't understand how you forgot."

Trey frowned, whispering to the three females watching the debate, "They do this all the time. When I'm around, they completely forget my existence and just talk to each other, but when any of the others are in the general area... Well, except for Amando, I suppose..."

"Really?" Fritzi asked, awestruck, "Mila and I never forget each other, or Horst, for that matter! How awful!"

"Trey," Russo cut in, finally noticing the side conversation, "Are you poisoning their minds against us?"

"If anyone's poisoning their minds against you, it's yourselves! You shouldn't ignore people when they've bothered wasting their time talking to you!"

Hearing this, Lily smiled to herself. Another secret nice guy, like Qing-Nian.

"Oh," Russo responded, glancing at the girls as his face flushed slightly, "S-sorry about that, I didn't realize..."

Mila just started laughing. "Don't worry about it, Rus. Everyone knows you're a nice guy at heart."

Lily hadn't stopped smiling. Everyone in this family - Wolfie, Fritzi, Trey, Russo - was just so _charming. _She couldn't help assuring him, "Yeah, it's fine. I get caught up in little things like that sometimes, too."

Russo looked at her for a second, then turned his gaze away, blushing all the more. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out before Mateo groaned, "Then I must be at fault, too. I'm so sorry, Lily!"

"Sorry? What did this guy do?"

Turning around, Lily inwardly scoffed, seeing Filo clad in his _girl's _uniform. Would this guy never give up the charade? Sure, he was her friend, but he was already pissing her off. If he went too long without telling Fritzi he was a guy, she might get blamed, too!

Turning on her aura so that only Filo could see how mad she was, Lily singsonged, "Oh, nothing, Filo. I was just greeting these boys, and they got a little too caught up in their own argument, is all."

His eyes briefly widening when seeing Lily's palpable anger, Filo spoke in his most glossy, feminine voice, "Well, I can't help but feel such young men aren't worthy of your time if they're just going to forget about you so easily, Lily. Why not come over here and meet _my _family?"

_A trap! _Lily thought, _I've already met his mom this morning. What does he want from me?_

"I-it'd be rude to leave in the middle of my conversation," Lily replied, fighting to keep control, "Why don't you join us instead?"

"Oh, it's fine if you leave, Lily!" Mateo interrupted, "We don't mind if you have someone else to chat with!"

"Y-yes, we'd hate to hog you to ourselves," Russo stuttered, still not letting himself look at her.

_God dammit, boys, now is NOT the time to be sweetie pies!_ Lily screamed inside her head, gnashing her teeth. Filo, of course, took the opportunity to excuse themselves, grabbing Lily's arm and dragging her into the crowd.

Once clear of the Italian family, Filo glanced back and whined, "Why didn't you want to come with me? Didn't you understand how tense it is with Fritzi there? Anyone could break it to her unintentionally!"

"It's better that way! For God's sake, Filo, what are you going to do if she finds out from someone she doesn't know well? She'll take it even worse! Besides, you're supposed to be the cool cucumber here!"

Filo pursed his lips. "I guess you're right. But how does one go about telling these things?"

"I have no idea. It's never happened to me, and I reckon it never will, what with THESE things. Maybe you should bulk up. You're so scrawny, it's no wonder everyone thinks you're a girl."

"Says the girl whose dads are the two fattest nations on the globe."

"They are NOT fat! They've just got a healthy weight to them, whereas you don't at all. Also, I saw Cuba earlier, and he's way bigger than either of them!"

"Whatever. Hey, wanna see my mom?"

"I already have. Where's your dad?"

A long silence followed. Barely perceptible, Filo muttered, "I don't know."

"Eh?"

"I don't know. Okay? I don't have one."

"Everyone has-"

"Well, I don't."

Lily knitted her eyebrows. Filo always kept his cool, but the moment she'd mentioned his father, he'd clammed up. Guess everyone had their pressure points.

"Lily!"

Thank God, saved by the Swede.

"Hey, Dyre. What's up?"

"Eh, not much, but Mom's making me go to bed early, so I'm just gonna say good night to you guys and Fritzi. I already saw Wolfie. Speaking of which, we forgot to compare schedules."

"Oh, yeah, we did! But mine's in my room already."

"Yeah, me too. Guess it's gonna be a random roulette or something like that."

"It's not so bad. Even if we don't have classes together, we can still see everyone after class. Speaking of which, who're you roomed with?"

"Eh, Alex, I think. You're related to him, right?"

"Yep. He's pretty nice, you'll like him."

"Thanks. Hm?" He glanced over his shoulder, hearing his name. "Oh, Mom's getting impatient. See you later." Giving his smaller friends a brief hug, he turned and pushed through the crowd.

Filo finally raised his voice again, saying lamely, "I'm gonna go to bed, too. Night."

"Oh. Um, night. Filo?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know."

Watching him go, Lily wondered what to do next. Maybe it was time to look for Wolfie. Maybe she should just go to bed, too. Turning her head to scan the crowd, she spotted a small white head in the crowd a few meters away.

"Wolfie!"

The little albino craned his neck until he could see her, then smiled before attempting to reach her. Knowing it would be easier if she went to him, she held up her hands in a 'stop' gesture, hoping he wouldn't get trampled, and pushed towards him. They bumped into each other, the two smallest people in the area, and held each other's hands until they got to a less crowded area, and could finally hear each other without yelling.

"Thanks, Lily, I was stuck in there and couldn't get out!" Wolfie sighed in relief, sitting in a chair at some random table. "I don't know what I would've done if you didn't show up."

"It was nothing. If there were any more people over there, I probably would've been stuck, too."

"Well, at least you're strong. I'm so tiny, in every way... Maybe Anya's right when she says I should eat more."

"Was Anya your mom's name?"

"Huh? No, it's Hungarian for mother. Her name's Elizaveta." Glancing around, he added, "Have you seen Fritzi or Filo anywhere?"

"Oh, yeah. I was just talking with Fritzi, but I don't know where she is. Filo went off to bed."

Wolfie smiled innocently. "Bed. That sounds like a good idea right about now."

"Yeah, same here, what with jet lag and everything. I feel like I should wait for Fritzi, though. She's just spacey enough to get lost on the way to her own dorm room."

"Okay, then. Should we find her, or wait for her to show up?"

"Eh... I don't want to dive back into the pandemonium again, but what if she doesn't even bother finding us before she heads out? We should probably look for her."

"Good idea. I think I saw Uncle Ludwig over this way..."

"Ohh, Wolfie!" called a voice. Glancing over her shoulder, Lily saw Wolfie's mom approaching.

"Er, don't turn around."

"Why not?"

"Your mom's coming in for another assault."

"Oh, gee whiz." Grabbing Lily's hand, Wolfie plunged into the crowd, both keeping an eye out for their blond friend. Glimpsing a tall redhead in the distance, Lily risked yelling, "Russo?"

In response, he circled about to face her, then, seeing who it was, waded into the crowd and grabbed the hand that wasn't already occupied by Wolfie. Within seconds, Lily was back where she'd been a little while ago, right next to the entire family of Italians. Facing Russo, she beamed up at him and said, "Thank you."

Russo smiled weakly back, face already turning red once more. "Think nothing of it."

"Hello again, Lily! I was just about to look for you! Oh, and hi there, Wolfie."

"Hey, Fritzi. Who're these people?"

He received a blank stare in return for his comment, until suddenly Fritzi's face brightened and she exclaimed, "Oh! Sorry about that, I figured, since you're all my cousins and all, you'd know each other! Should've realized the different sides..."

As the introductions were passed around once more, Lily noticed the multitude of people leaving the room. Perhaps it really was time to leave. Maybe she should say goodbye to-

Oh, God. Snapping her head back to face her companions, she tried to ignore the prickling feeling in her spine. If Olafur came over here, she was going to smack him upside the head. Just the knowledge of his staring at her backside made her skin crawl.

"L-lily?" Mateo asked, breaking her train of thought, "Are you okay?"

"Hm?" For the first time, she realized someone must have said something to her without her noticing. Not only that, she noted, but her aura was way out of control. Trying her best to tone down her purple rage(Generally, people she wasn't mad at couldn't see her aura, but sometimes it got the better of her), she assured him, "Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about something that made me mad, that's all."

"Oh... Okay, then. Anyway, we were just saying we're gonna find our parents and head out."

"Alright! Bye, Mateo." Nodding to each of his brothers in turn, she added, "Sleep well, Trey, Russo."

"Sure, whatever. Night."

"Good night, Lily."

"LIIIIIILYYYYYYYY!" came a shout from across the near-empty chamber, "Daddy and I are leaving now!"

"Just a second!" Smiling at her friends, she told them, "Be right back."

Her mother pouted slightly as she approached. "So I still haven't got any kids with my super strength, but you've already got one with the crazy purple stuff. SO not fair."

"Super strength, Mama?"

"Yeah, all world superpowers have something weird they do. My human form suppressed it pretty well, but as the world's most powerful nation, I'm pretty damn strong!"

"I always figured Cleo would inherit that trait anyway," Ivan inserted, "Cause she's so similar to you, and, well, she is... _that._"

"You say that like it's a bad thing! I'm perfectly confident that she'll be a fine you-know-what."

"So Cleo's a big enough city that she'd inherit super-strength?" Lily asked, hoping she'd get more clues as to who her little sister really was.

Alfred made a zipping-lip gesture. "I'm not telling you! One thing, though, once you find out what city she is, you're definitely going to understand her strange taste in clothes."

"Can I make a guess?"

"Shoot."

"Well, since Kirill and I are both west-coast cities, I'm going for San Francisco."

"Not even close!"

"Damn."

"Anyway, Lily," Russia chuckled, "It's time for Mom and I to go home. I hope you enjoy school, and if you have any problems, **just tell me who to beat up during winter break.**"

"**Papa!**"

"I'm only kidding!"

"I know." She reached forward, pulling her father in for a chilly embrace. Now that he was in full nation form, she had to admit he really was cold sometimes(though it must get even worse during winter, she supposed).

"Bye-bye, Lily! I love you so much!" Alfred cried, giving Lily a bone-crushing(literally) embrace.

"HURG!"

"Oops, sorry. It's been a while."

"It's fine, Mama. See you at winter break."

After waving goodbye to her parents, she found her friends once more and headed with them into the chilly air. Checking with a teacher(who introduced himself as Bulgaria) to make sure they were going in the right direction, they headed for the dorms.

"That was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Fritzi enthused, grasping her arms tightly to her body, "I never thought our parents could be, like, countries! And Mama turning out to be a guy was kind of weird, but at least Vati's still Vati."

"Yeah, I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, huh?" Wolfie put in, "Though being albino is gonna take some getting used to."

"My mom's friends both changed genders. I feel kinda bad for Masaru."

"Oh yeah, that Asian-ish guy, right? He's kinda creepy."

"My opinion exactly. But I should introduce you to his sister Ran, she's really awesome. She's into that anime stuff."

"Really? Me, too!" Wolfie belted, then said more quietly, "Th-though, I don't know if we'd be into the same stuff. My mom has... interesting preferences..."

"Like what?"

"I'd rather not..."

"Oh... kay..."

"That's it, right?" Frtizi yawned, pointing ahead to the dark building.

"Yep. Our room's not locked, is it?"

"Not that I remember."

"I hope Teddy didn't lock me out..."

"Oh, you're with my cousin, too?"

"Yep. Who else is with a relation?"

"Dyre - he's with my other cousin, Alex. Did you meet them?"

"Eh, kinda. Teddy was still asleep when I got up, and Alex... acknowledged my existence. I think."

"I don't think I've talked to either of them."

"They're okay. You should get along fine with Teddy, Wolfie." She held the door open for the other two as the reached the building.

"Guess it's time to split up. Bye, Fritzi. See you later, Lily."

"Ni-night, Wolfie."

When they entered their room, Lily collapsed onto her bed, not even bothering to take off her uniform. Fritzi, though, took a peek at Lily's side of the room from her perch on her bed.

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"What are those bottles on top of your full city outfit?"

There was a long silence.

"They're nothing..."

Fritzi just looked at Lily for a second, then shrugged and lay down.

"G'night, Lily."

_Eight years ago..._

_"__**Auntie Nataliya**__," muttered nine-year-old Kirill, "__**Mama says if you keep trying to teach me to throw knives, she's not gonna let you come over. A-and also, I'm pretty sure I just don't have the 'knack' for it, like you say...**__"_

_"__**Nonsense, young man. You're doing fine. Now, see that target on that tree over there? Just picture your enemy's head right there. Do you have any enemies, Kirill?**__"_

_"__**N-no, Auntie, I don't! Mama says-**__"_

_"__**To hell with what your Mama says. I'm telling you, you're going to have enemies eventually, and it's worth learning to defend yourself from them. Now, don't you have anyone who you just can't stand? Does anyone make fun of your glasses, perhaps?**__"_

_"__**Y-y-yes, b-but-**__"_

_"__**You certainly aren't very formidable when you stutter like that. Try answering me again.**__"_

_"__**I-I can't! I just c-can't!**__"_

_"__**You can't what?**__"_

_"__**I can't throw it, Auntie, I can't!**__"_

_"__**Auntie?**__"_

_Turning to her niece, patiently sitting on the sidelines, Nataliya sneered. "__**Yes? What do YOU want?**__"_

_"__**I wanna try throwing one, Auntie.**__"_

_A derisive laugh escaped the woman's lips. "__**YOU? What makes you think you can throw a knife? You're just a little girl, miss. Only seven.**__"_

_"__**You're just a girl, too, Auntie. I wanna throw one.**__"_

_"__**I'm telling you, you can't. Go home.**__"_

_"__**When did YOU throw your first knife, Auntie? I bet you were way younger than seven. I bet you were six. Or five.**__"_

_"__**You shouldn't make such bets when you have no idea what you're dealing with, young lady. You should really just SHUT YOUR TRAP**__."_

_"__**And why don't you ever call me by my name? I'm not Miss or Young Lady. I'm Lily!**__"_

_"__**It matters little to me what your name is.**__"_

_"__**I know why! I know you're jealous 'cuz Daddy loves me, and I speak Russian so well! You're weird, Auntie! Why do you love your own brother?**__"_

_"__**You insolent little-"**_

_"Kirill! Kirill, where are you?"_

_"Mama!" Kirill called, "Mama, I'm over here!"_

_"__**Kirill, no! She can't some over here. This is... a secret, Kirill, she can't see this stuff.**__"_

_"__**I-I'm sorry, Auntie. I won't tell.**__"_

_"__**Well, I will!"**__ Lily shouted, "__**If you don't let me throw one, Auntie, I'm gonna tell her!**__"_

_"__**You will NOT, brat, because if you do, I'll send one of these straight through YOUR head!**__"_

_"Nataliya? Is that you?"_

_"Y-yes, big brother! I have the children! I'll be right over!"_

_"Okay... Tell them it's lunch. We have sandwiches and lemonade."_

_"We'll be right there!" Turning to Lily and grabbing her by the hair, she growled, "__**Breathe a word of this, and you know what'll happen, SWEETHEART.**__"_

_"__**L-lemme go!**__"_

_"__**Promise you won't run off?**__"_

_"__**Promise!**__"_

_Nataliya let go of the child's hair,only to grab hoplessly at the then-waist-length tendrils as Lily darted back to the makeshift target range._

_"__**Why, you-**__"_

_Standing over twice as far away from the target as Kirill had been when Nataliya had prompted him to throw, Lily scooped up a discarded knife and screamed, "__**Watch THIS, Auntie!"**_

_With perfect form, the young girl hurled the knife at the target, only narrowly missing the bulls-eye. "__**S-so there!**__" she screeched, "__**I CAN throw! I stole one of your knives last time you were here, a-and I practiced and practiced! I did what you told Kirill, and pretended it was my enemy's head! I pretended it was YOU, Auntie!"**_

_The words hung in silence. The blond woman stared dumbfoundedly at her niece, realizing the purple aura she saw hanging in the air around her wasn't just her imagination. Lily was staring at her in pure, hateful rage, waves of anger pelting the air around her._

_Kirill wasn't quite as sure what was going on, but he'd noticed enough to know he had to get away. Tripping over his own feet, he sprinted back to his house, bursting into the kitchen, crying, "Mama!"_

_"Kirill? What is it, honey, did you get hurt?"_

_"N-no, b-b-but Lily - in the w-woods-"_

_Bolting up from his chair, Ivan dashed out the door, not bothering even to close it. Running across the street, he called hopelessly, "Lily? __**Lily, WHERE ARE YOU?**__"_

_"__**Brother?**__"_

_Whipping his head around to face the speaker, Ivan almost couldn't believe his eyes._

_There were Nataliya and Liliya, both with wide grins on their faces and rolling purple auras, holding hands and walking towards him._

_With their long, blond hair and the expressions on their faces, anyone could have sworn they were mother and daughter._

**WHEEEEEEEE**

**Okay, so now you've met Russo. Please vote! The "which love interest" poll is on my profile!**

**Also, you've got a bit of background on why Lily is the way she is. All Auntie Nataliya's fault for ignoring her. Hehe.**

**Please review!**


	7. Setting Sail

**HOLY CRAP**

**This took me long enough... sorry about that ^^ Also, thanks to takuya for reviewing!**

**From now on, since I'm pretty sure I've introduced everyone, I'm gonna do descriptions of their city forms vs. their human forms. Here's Lily and her four friends.**

**Lily - short, with shoulder-length layered blond hair and bangs parted over her right eye. Human; blue eyes, flat chest, Portland; purple eyes, BOING**  
><strong>Fritzi - mid-height, with long, wavy reddish-blond hair, commonly with headband or ponytail. Human; brown eyes, Venice; amber eyes<strong>  
><strong>Filo - mid-height, with short pixie-ish hair, somewhat girly, green eyes. Human; dyed red hair, Krakow; blond hair<strong>  
><strong>Wolfie - very short, with Prussia-ish hair and glasses. Human; brown eyes, brown hair, Eger; albino<strong>  
><strong>Dyre - tall, with glasses and blue eyes, nerdy blond hair. No change between human and Kalmar<strong>

**Now lets get this over with!**

"Whoa there," Dyre spoke up, confused, "You're saying that, after coming here all the way from Sweden, I have to go STRAIGHT BACK TO EUROPE?"

"That's what I was informed," Lily replied over her breakfast as the two of them waited for their friends to come from their dorms, "Though Kirill and his friends did this two years ago, and I'm not sure how much it would've changed since."

Dyre sighed, crunching his way through some toast, "Bjorn didn't tell me any of this. I swear, sometimes I hate him. What if I don't want to visit everyone's home city? I was kinda hoping I could go with my mom during winter break or something."

"Yeah, it seems like a weird system to me. I feel like it would have more meaning with our parents."

"Whatcha talkin' 'bo't?" Fritzi asked through her mouthful of eggs, sliding into the seat next to Lily at the long dining table. Her hair was still dripping wet from her shower.

"Lily says there's a yearly thing where all the cities go visit each other's homes right after the school year starts."

"Oh, yeah, Mila told me about it! I think it sounds like fun! I think Russo's coming with us, since he didn't have a fun opportunity, being the only one in his grade and all. Though, he's probably visited Naples during breaks."

Lily smiled dreamily. Fritzi mentioning her cousin reminded her of another of the Italian's family members, from the other side of the family...

Filo, STILL wearing the female Europe class uniform, sat across from Fritzi and next to Dyre. Having no elder siblings to inform him of the trip, it was news to him. "How could they afford carting us all over the globe like that?"

"No idea. It seems like a fat load of trouble to me," Dyre answered, glancing around. "What's taking Wolfie so long?"

"He might be avoiding his mother again. Look, she's right over there."

"Oh yeah, she is. Gee, I can't even imagine having my parents here. Mom might not be so bad, but Dad would cause trouble regardless of whether Mom was babysitting him."

"My mom causes plenty of trouble, but truthfully, I wouldn't mind him being here - as long as he didn't spend all his time fawning over Kirill. I guess he needs to keep an eye on Cleo."

"How old is Cleo?"

"Ten, I think. She should be in fifth grade."

"Really?" Fritzi cut in, "My baby brother, Horsti, is that same age! That's so cute!"

Filo nodded, chuckling, "I don't have any siblings. I'm kinda jealous."

"You can have Bjorn if you want. I'm sick of him, and he's only been around two days."

"Does he spend a lot of time in his city? I know Mila's been away a lot - WHA-"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" came a voice from beneath the table. "Is Anya still there?"

"Hi, Wolfie," Lily laughed, "She's gone. I think she went to prepare for class. What does she teach?"

"European History. I'm so glad she's gone..." Popping up between Dyre and Filo, he glanced to his right and left and blushed, stammering, "Oh, sorry! Don't let me come between you two!" He then scurried off in the direction of the buffet.

Dyre stared at the ceiling, then looked at Filo. "Wait... does he think we're..."

"He likes manga... Maybe he's..." Filo responded. Suddenly he burst out laughing. Dyre looked over his shoulder at Wolfie.

"Why would manga have anything to do with it?" Fritzi asked, making Filo stiffen. "I can totally see why he'd pair you two together! It's kind of cute, actually!"

Seeing the looks the two were giving her, she flushed. "Th-though I totally know that you're just friends!"

Her response was an announcement coming from the loudspeaker above their heads. "All Special Class freshmen, please reunite at yesterday's meeting place in fifteen minutes."

They wolfed down their food, politely(though awkwardly, with Dyre constantly glancing at the person in question) waiting for Wolfie to finish before departing. The obnoxious sign from yesterday was still present, directing them towards the correct building with its outdated message, "SPECIAL CLASS AND PARENTS COME HERE."

Everyone was gathered in the same room as yesterday, though they were now allowed to sit where they liked and there was one oddball in the group - Trey's big brother, Russo. It appeared Fritzi's suspicion was correct.

The boys from yesterday grouped the same way they had before, with Lily's group staying together at the other side of the room. Seeing Russo's uncomfortable look, Fritzi extended a hand to her cousin. "You can sit with us, Russo."

Russo's face turned red, even more so when he saw Lily. "Th-thanks. I'm not sure what to think here, since I don't really know anyone. Being the only sophomore suited me better than this."

Lily smiled encouragingly. "You'll fit in fine, Russo."

He smiled back at her. He'd seemed much more confident when with his brother, Lily noted. He must be one of those people who don't really make friends very easily. Kind of like Dyre, now that she thought of it - which indicated, if he followed Dyre's example, that he'd be fine. Dyre himself had only needed somebody else to approach him first before he'd opened up.

Glancing toward the podium, Lily saw her aunt Arthur reaching for his whistle once more. She pointed this out to her friends, who promptly covered their ears.

The screech rung out, making everyone obediently sit down. Clearing his throat, Arthur announced, "I hope you didn't unpack your bags too hastily, because we're all going on a trip."

"Called it," Lily muttered, making Fritzi and Russo, who were sitting closest to her, smile.

"We're going to go on a two-week trip to all your individual home cities. You have the choice of whether or not you want to go to your city with us or your parents, but remember, you can either see it now with us, or wait until break to go with your mother or father."

"Thank God," Dyre whispered to himself.

"Mark your choice on the paper in front of you."

The same way as yesterday, Lily cast her eyes down to see that a slip of paper and a number two pencil that hadn't been there before were now in front of her. Picking up the pencil, she frowned. What DID she want to do? She'd rather see Portland with her mother, but at the same time, did she really want to wait that long?

She decided against the school trip. Marking her answer, she glanced at Fritzi's paper. She'd indicated that she would like to go with the school. Well, Venice would make for a fun destination.

Unable to see anyone else's paper, she turned her attention towards the front. Arthur was tapping his fingers impatiently. When the last pencil was put down, he snapped his fingers, bringing all the slips up toward him with a bizarre little gust of wind.

"Go on to your classes now, everyone. I'll spend the next two days planning the trip, then we can leave on Wednesday."

Pulling her schedule out of her blazer pocket, Lily took a look at the seven-period separations.

"Why am I taking three different languages?"

Fritzi took a look at Lily's schedule. "That's a lot! German, Swedish, French? I'm guessing it's cuz you're American. The great melting pot, and all."

"How many are you taking?"

"Just one... Romanian? That's a weird one. But look, I also have more European history stuff."

"Hmph. I guess they want me to be able to talk to all my ethnic groups, but that's going to be hard."

"Not necessarily! If it's really part of your city self, I'm sure it can't be that difficult."

"Trust me, it isn't," Russo informed her. "Ukranian may be a bit obscure, especially since my base is Latin and Italian, but it came naturally all the same. Even the Cyrillic letters aren't all that hard after a while."

"That's a relief."

"Anyway, what do you have first, Lily?"

"National Biology with the Special class. Sounds like we're going to be together."

"Alright, off to the science wing, then!" Fritzi chirped, tugging Lily along behind her as she exited the room, their other friends trailing behind.

_After School_

"Wow... And here I thought we'd actually have some normal classes," Filo muttered, a strange, twisted smile on his face. All five of them were squeezed onto one bench outside their dorms, exhausted and confused. There HAD been a reasonable number of regular classes - Physical Education, English, and Art - but there was a very disproportionate amount spent specifically with either their world location(Europe or America class) or with the Special class itself explaining things only the children of nations would have to know.

"Yeah, I hadn't even realized that national biology was so different from humans," Fritzi put in, "What was all that stuff about world superpowers actually having, er, superpowers?"

"Oh, that," Lily sighed, "My parents have that, apparently. I don't know that I should go into it, but go ahead and get a hug from my mom. You'll know."

"I feel so _dumb," _Dyre groaned, "How do you guys put up with it all the time?" He suddenly shivered, Lily's aura rising slightly.

"I'm sure we'll get used to it eventually," Wolfie piped up, the only one out of the five who didn't seem upset at all. Dyre put his arm around him, which took quite an effort due to their packed-in situation.

"So, guys," Filo began, "Any homework?"

Lily shook her head, "No, actually. Mr. Lithuania said they don't assign homework here, since we're here twenty-four-seven."

The Pole asked, "Any ideas what to do?"

There was a moment of hesitation. Dyre spoke up. "Mrs. Hungary said during art class that we can choose a different art elective if we want, than just plain old painting. Maybe we should talk to the teachers and see what there is?"

Another silent moment. Lily said, "I'd kinda rather be bored than do anything related to school right now."

"Hey, Wolfie!" Fritzi gasped, suddenly coming up with an idea.

"Yes...?"

"I wanna see you in the girls uniform!"

"Oh. Okay."

Dyre looked at him. "Wait, you're just okay with this?"

"Mama likes making me crossdress. Fritzi's seen it before."

"Yeah! He can wear my uniform! Oh, Wolfie, you'll look so cute!"

"Oh, I dunno, Fritzi," Lily growled, sending an intense look at a certain blonde, "I think _Filo's_ uniform would fit him much better."

"Really? But... Well, she is thin - but she's also bigger than me!"

Suddenly looking confused, Dyre opened his mouth, only to have Wolfie slap a hand over it and whisper something in his ear. Dyre gave Fritzi a look, then saw Lily's expression and suddenly seemed to understand the situation. An idea bloomed in his head.

"Hey Fritzi."

"Yeah?"

"I wanna try the girls uniform, too."

Lily made eye contact with him, realizing his motives. She burst out in peals of fake laughter. "Oh, that'll be great! Come on, Fritzi, let's dress them up!"

Fritzi grinned in response. "Okay! I still think Wolfie should wear mine, though. Dyre'd probably fit in Filo's best."

Filo was smiling, too, until what was happening dawned on him. "Oh, maybe we should do this later! Like, um, in a couple days or something -"

"Oh, no, Filo," Lily interrupted, "what else could we possibly be doing right now that could be so important?"

Lily's sadistic smile and creepy purple aura finally made him break. "Fine..."

_A few minutes later..._

Waiting outside Wolfie and Teddy's room, Lily shouted, "Are you done in there yet?"

"I am! We're having a bit of trouble buttoning Dyre in - there we go!"

In a matter of seconds, Wolfie and Dyre were standing in front of them, in all their crossdressing glory. Lily had to try as hard as she could not to laugh, because Dyre was looking so uncomfortable, but she wasn't doing a very good job.

Surprisingly, Fritzi's uniform fit Wolfie pretty well. She'd even given him one of her headbands to put on, a very girly one with a big bow off to one side. The minute Hungarian looked positively adorable, his big red eyes matching the plaid jumper. The fact that it was just a little big on him made him all the more endearing, instead of the opposite. He looked like he was used to it, tugging at the short skirt with a resigned look on his face.

Dyre, on the other hand, stood stubbornly with his hands crossed in front of his chest, trying to keep any and all emotions off his face. Despite that his uniform was a size or two small, he actually didn't look half bad - though everyone could tell that he didn't think so, which perhaps prompted Fritzi's next comment.

"Oh, Dyre, you're so pretty! You actually kind of look like a girl!"

The receiver of this statement looked confused as to whether this was a compliment or not, but he responded by saying, "Yes, this outfit has a way of masking just about anyone's gender... I'm sure any one of you girls could actually be a guy, and we'd never even know it."

Fritzi giggled, not getting the hint at all. "Well, you tell me, Dyre! You're supposed to be the smart one!"

Her partner in conversation didn't let up. He was clearly determined to get Filo's true identity out of the closet. "I wouldn't question Lily - I mean look at that chest-" Lily would have smacked him in any other situation, choosing instead to show a little of her aura as a warning "- but you or Filo, I'd certainly buy it."

Fritzi frowned, clearly insulted, "That's mean, Dyre! Teasing Filo and I just because we're poorly endowed! Filo, back me-" She looked around, confused, "Where'd Filo go?"

For the first time, Lily noticed that Filo had disappeared. _That SNAKE! He's lucky he slithered away in time... _Gnashing her teeth, she responded, "He - I mean, SHE - must have gone to the bathroom."

"What a shame! She's missing Wolfie and Dyre!"

"A shame indeed," grumbled both Lily and Dyre, their plan already foiled.

"Well," Dyre sighed, "I suppose I'll just go back and change now..."

"But Dyre, it's no fun if no one gets to SEE you!"

He froze in place. "Fritzi...?"

Lily jumped on board immediately, temporarily forgetting her anger at Filo. "Yeah! Let's go outside, Dyre. It's a lovely day."

"Oh, brother," Wolfie chuckled, clearly liking this idea.

"YOU ARE NOT PUTTING ME OUT THERE!"

_A couple days later..._

"Are you SURE you have everything, Fritzi?" Lily asked temperamentally. The strawberry blonde had already dashed back into their room several times in order to get something she'd forgotten - a hairbrush, a stick of deodorant - and Lily was getting more than a little fed up.

"I think it's everything," Fritzi giggled, patting the large rolling pack she'd brought. "Though... Maybe I should bring more pads? Just in case?"

"I have some, too," Lily groaned, "You can just borrow some from me if you need them."

Both girls were wearing their city uniforms, as they'd been directed by Mr. England. Fritzi's uniform was a delightful ensemble - very versatile, as well, easily usable as casual date attire, a work uniform, or even for a refined night out - composed of a long-sleeved blouse, fitted black vest, fluttery black skirt, white tights, black flats, and a white headband with a big, black bow made of the same gauzy material as her skirt. For a city as romantic as Venice, it was very fitting.

"Okay then, let's go, Lily! I wonder how everyone else will look as cities?"

"Judging by our outfits, pretty good. Do you know which cities we'll be visiting?"

"Oh, I have the list - here! We're going to Darwin first, since it's so close... then Kyoto, then Odessa, Krakow, and finally, Venice. Wait, I'm last?"

"You just have to be patient. They probably just wanted to save the best one."

"Oh, that's sweet!"

Outside, they found their other friends on the bench that had now become their meeting place. Squeezing in at the end, Lily observed the boys;

Filo was wearing pants, thank god, but he was still looking androgynous. The pants were greyish skinny jeans, with a dark, reddish-brown knitted sweater on top. He wore a pair of well-worn converse - which Lily supposed must have already belonged to him as a human - and a houndstooth-patterned scarf. Finally, on his head was a red beret. Lily took one look at him and wanted to scream, "HIPSTER!" However, she tried her best to suppress the urge.

Next, Dyre actually looked slightly less uptight than usual, wearing a pair of khaki slacks, topped by a long-sleeved dress shirt and a blue, argyle-patterned sweater vest. He had no tie, instead going with a looser look, with a couple shirt buttons undone. In his hands, he carried a long, heavy khaki trench coat that Lily assumed provided good protection against colder climates. It might not be her style, necessarily, but she could sense Dyre was happy with it.

Finally was Wolfie, wearing what looked like a slightly more traditional outfit than everyone elses, which consisted of a loose, flowing white shirt, black pants, and long black boots. On his head was a black, brimmed hat. Judging from the outfits Mrs. Hungary had worn so far that week, this was pretty consistent with Lily's current impression of Hungarian representatives - fairly devoted to tradition, as opposed to the country or city's flavor. The one discrepancy was a chain Wolfie wore around his neck, which seemed to be, like Filo's shoes, a human possession.

Fritzi promptly began oohing and aahing over the other's outfits, how spiffy they looked, how the ensembles fit their individual personalities. Lily smiled, pretending to listen, as something occurred to her. She'd packed the glass bottles the outfit came with in her bag. Had the others received personal weapons, too? Had they all hidden these from one another?

Or maybe they hadn't. Maybe, like her bottles, their weapons were innocently hiding in plain sight?

Fritzi's skirt could certainly hide something beneath it. What if, on the end of the chain tucked inside Wolfie's shirt, there was a knife? Dyre - well, Dyre didn't really have anywhere to hide things, but perhaps Filo...

Lily wanted to smack herself.

She was being so paranoid.

"By the way, guys," Fritzi asked, "Did anyone else receive one of these with their outfit?"

Out from within her bag, Fritzi produced what was unmistakably a gun.

**Blargh...**

**I'm exhausted from all that writing, and it's actually like the shortest chapter I have... I'm so sorry!**

**Anyway, vote in the poll! Russo's winning right now, surprisingly. Also, I have some "ponified" pictures of Lily and the gang on my profile, so check that out, too!**

**Please review!**


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